


Battle of the Lightbulb (or The Perils of Shared Living)

by Meh_forget_it



Category: CW Network RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-04
Updated: 2011-08-04
Packaged: 2017-10-22 05:13:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 50,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/234220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meh_forget_it/pseuds/Meh_forget_it
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared thought moving in to an apartment just off campus with four other guys in his second year of college was an amazing idea. It’s not long after World War 3 starts to be fought in his apartment - via notes - that he realises that it really wasn’t. Thankfully he has his insane best friend, Misha, to keep him grounded, the owners of a fetish club to give him a place to hide and his childhood friend, Mike who lives in another apartment… and whose housemate is hot. Jared never thought about love at first sight, but he's considering lust might be possible. Featuring English student!Jared, Med student!Jensen and can't-make-up-his-mind-student!Misha!! - For the spn_j2_bigbang</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Note One

  
_’If you are going to turn me on, don’t leave me and forget about me!’_   


Jared, second year student and all around, annoyingly optimistic, Literature student (meaning, admittedly, that he spent a majority of his time with his nose in books… or head in the clouds) had thought that living in an apartment with four other guys would be awesome. It was just off of campus, the rent was reasonable, it was in a decent part of town and best of all, they all got their own rooms. No more getting back from the library to find a sock on the doorknob. Not that that had happened all that often.

Still, as the first year of college reached an end, he and his roommate, Misha, had decided to see if they could find somewhere to live in their second year. And they had found the apartment they now lived in. However, before they finalised anything, they had had to decide and agree on whom they would also be living with. And that was clearly where they made the mistake.

Jared had brought in his two friends, Chad and Jason. The former of which had been close friend of Jared’s since their High School years, and the latter being someone he had shared most of his freshman classes with and was doing the same major as. Misha had also taken some classes with Jason, and brought in Milo, whom he was doing the same major as.

They got on. And so they signed the lease and then went home for summer, all happy that they had somewhere to live the next year. Of course, that’s pretty much where the happiness clearly ended. Turns out that he and Misha got along and could live with one another reasonably well. The other three?

It had taken three weeks of living together before someone clearly snapped, but the proof that it had happened was now apparent. And stuck to a light-switch.

The note that Jared was now looking at was clearly proof to back up all the theories that being friends was easy until you had to actually live with them. Or that Misha’s paranoid ramblings about global warming and appliances striking back - that one time they had some dodgy weed - wasn’t quite so paranoid or insane.

Jared glanced at the bright yellow post it note and then blinked slowly. He wasn’t entirely sure who had written it, though it wasn’t Misha’s handwriting, so he could cross him off the list. However, he had classes to get to, and so he really didn’t have the time to ponder on it. Which was probably not the best thing to do. But really, he didn’t have time for this kind of thing.

So he grabbed his bag, turned away from the baffling note left in the main room of the apartment under the light-switch, and walked out of the apartment, making sure to close the door quietly so he didn’t wake up anyone that may have still been asleep.

  
_’I always leave my light-switch thoroughly satisfied. Don’t worry.’_   


Chad. That was the first thing that came to Jared’s mind when he got back from his classes for the day and found another note left under the first one. It was Chad’s handwriting and it was just… Chad.

Sighing, he shook his head and then noticed Misha standing by the door to the kitchen, nibbling on his lower lip.

“The shit’s going to hit the fan, isn’t it?” Misha asked when he saw Jared looking at him. Jared snorted mirthlessly and then shook his head.

“No idea. Maybe this is a one time thing?” And there was Jared’s undying optimism cropping up. Though judging by the look on Misha’s face, he clearly thought it was just Jared showing that he was actually rather stupid.

“Yes. Possibly. It is worrying that the author of the first note seems to feel the need to give a voice to the inanimate electrical devices of the world. I should study them,” Misha muttered, and Jared grinned at him before he shook his head. Misha? Misha was currently planning on doing a psychology major.

The ‘currently’ was added in there because, by Jared’s last count, Misha had changed his major seven times. Though the psychology choice seemed to be lasting the longest. Jared was beginning to think that maybe this time he would actually stick with it.

“You think that’s a good idea? Because even from the note, I can tell that whoever wrote it wasn’t in a very hospitable mood,” Jared pointed out lightly as he walked past Misha into the kitchen, having dumped his bag on the sofa as he passed it.

“You do have a point. I think we should go out and get very drunk tonight. I can never sleep when I’m stuck with a foreboding feeling in my stomach. Alcohol helps numb those types of feelings,” Misha commented as he hopped up to sit on the counter. “Sex also helps.”

Jared, having spent a year with Misha, was completely used to these sorts of offhand comments and thus only choked a little on the water he’d just sipped. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he raised an eyebrow at the other guy.

“I think alcohol might help. You’re right. Drinking. We should go drinking. I don’t have classes or work in the morning. You?” Jared asked, leaning against the side and watching as Misha seemed to watch something only he could see.

“Nope, no classes and I still have yet to find a job. Though, the last place I applied to is looking promising.”

“Cool. Let me have a shower and get ready, then we can leave about seven? We inviting the others?”

“I don’t really feel the need to spend the night in the ER this early into the semester. Maybe we should just sneak out,” Misha commented lightly, jumping off the counter and walking to the door.

“Good point,” Jared conceded, and they both left the kitchen and walked to their separate rooms. Jared hoped that Misha was right and the alcohol would rid him of the feeling of foreboding he was currently left with.

* * *

  


* * *

Note Two

  
_’Chad,  
the zoo called, they want you back by eight pm at the latest.  
Milo.’_   


Jared jerked awake when the door to his bedroom was quickly opened and then shut again. Groggily, Jared pushed himself up to sit in his bed and saw a wide-eyed Misha leaning against his door.

“Meesh?”

“Shh! The shit has hit the fan,” Misha whispered, silently and quickly walking from the door to sit on the bed next to Jared.

That was one thing that made people wonder about their friendship actually. Their complete lack of regard for personal space. Neither one had a problem with randomly hugging the other, or, as they were now, sharing a bed with the other. Regardless of their state of dress.

“What’s happened?” Jared asked, glancing at his door warily. It had been a little over a week since the first and only two notes had been left behind, and though things had felt a little strained in the apartment for a few days after, eventually things got back to normal again. So Jared had put the notes to the back of his mind and Misha had conceded that for once, Jared’s optimism may have not led them wrong.

Clearly, both were stupid.

“There was a new note left on Chad’s door,” Misha whispered, handing Jared the note he had managed to grab before he fled into Jared’s room. Jared read it and snickered, before handing it back to Misha. “Yeah, I thought it was funny too, as did Jason and Milo. Chad though? Apparently he brought someone back with him last night, and found the note on his door then.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah. So Chad is now angry at Milo for cockblocking him, accusing him of being jealous. Which Milo didn’t appreciate. I felt it wise to hide out in here once Jason escaped to his job,” Misha muttered, and Jared nodded, glancing at his alarm clock and seeing that it was only six in the morning, meaning Jason would be three hours early for work. Clearly he was dedicated to his job at the library.

“How long will we have to hide in here? I have my own job to get to,” Jared whispered after they had both sat in silence for a good ten minutes. Misha shrugged and looked at him.

“Can I come with you?”

“Sure, why not. I’ll even try and sneak you free coffee,” Jared said with a wide grin, getting a wider one in return from Misha.

“See, this is why we are friends. You pay me with coffee. That’s how friendships are formed. What time do you start?”

“Eight.”

“Right. So we hide in here for the next hour, then get ready to leave. _Then_ we sneak out and hope to not be caught in any crossfire. Do I still have clothes in here?”

“Yeah, second drawer down,” Jared said with a nod to his chest of drawers in his room, not even blinking at another reason people raised eyebrows at their relationship. Even Mike had questioned him on it once, and he’d never actually met Misha.

“Good. Jared…” Misha started as he lay back in Jared’s bed, hands resting on his stomach. Jared moved to lie next to Misha on his side and looked at him questioningly.

“Hmm?”

“We need a plan.”

“A plan?” Jared asked, wondering where Misha was actually going to go with this. With Misha, it truly could have been anywhere.

“We need a plan for what to do when things get really bad. Because, as much as I love your optimism, I think it’s gonna get a lot worse, and not better,” Misha said bluntly, and Jared had to agree with him on that one. Even his optimistic view on life could see that.

“Like a fallout plan?”

“Exactly. So… any ideas. Because I don’t have any. At all,” Misha admitted with a wide-eyed grin. Jared snickered and shook his head, before frowning as a thought struck him.

“Actually… I might.”

“Oh? Share with the class, Jared,” Misha told him, shifting to root through Jared’s bedside table drawer, and then moving to lie back on his back He handed one of the Twizzlers he’d grabbed to Jared and chewed on the other one, looking at him steadily.

“Well, two. I’ve got two ideas. The first one, our jobs. I generally work in the mornings, and some afternoons. You always work nights. So, I figure we can hide out at either ones work place,” Jared stated, chewing on a piece of candy as he looked to Misha for his thoughts on the idea.

“Okay… That’s possibly a good idea. Though, you’re kind of like a huge puppy. You gonna fit in with my place of work?” Misha asked him with a wicked grin, bright blue eyes gleaming with mischief as he watched Jared cough and then shift.

“Sure. Why not?”

“Uh huh. Fine, I’ll agree to this, but you have to wear a collar for the first week at least. I don’t want to be responsible for you being molested by some scary dom.”

“I’m six, five,” Jared deadpanned, and Misha actually snorted and looked at him, completely unimpressed. “Fine. I’ll agree to the plan.”

“Good little Sub,” Misha said, shifting to awkwardly pat Jared on the head, before he shifted to get comfy again and looked at Jared seriously once more. “So what’s your other plan?”

“Mike.” Mike was Jared’s friend from back in San Antonio, Texas. He was four years older than Jared and was, admittedly, the main reason for Jared having chosen to go to San Francisco for college. Though he denied it when his mother had asked him if that had been the case. Still, Mike and Jared had been friends since Jared was five, and Jared knew that Mike would allow him and Misha to hide out at his house.

“Mike? Your best and oldest friend, Mike?”

“Yeah. Should things go to hell and neither of us is working, we hide out at Mike’s place. His housemate sounds like he’d be fine with it,” Jared said with a shrug, not sounding all that sure even to his own ears. Of course, Jared had never actually met Mike’s housemate, though he was fairly certain his name was Jen or maybe Jenny. Or something to that affect.

“Right…” Misha said, eyeing him suspiciously before they both jumped at the sound of a door banging shut, and the eyed the door to Jared’s room warily. “Think Milo is leaving with Chad’s body, to hide it somewhere?”

“Nah. Chad’s a pre-med student. If anyone’s killed anyone, it’s Chad killing Milo.”

“You do have a point. So… Mike’s?”

“Mikes.”


	2. Chapter 2

Note Three

_’Pull your own pubes out of the drain.’_

Jared stumbled into the bathroom three days after he and Misha hacked out their fallout plan, and blearily glanced in the mirror. It was just past six thirty in the morning, he hadn’t gotten to sleep until after two and so he wasn’t really all that aware. Thus he felt justified in not noticing the new note until he had been brushing his teeth for a few minutes. When he did however, he wished he’d spat out the toothpaste before reading it. Choking on toothpaste made your eyes water.

Reading the note again, he shuddered and then steeled himself before he glanced over to the shower in question. How he’d not noticed the state of the drain when he’d had his morning shower yesterday, he didn’t know. But he was both thankful that he hadn’t, and also horrified. And now felt like he needed to have a bleach bath to feel clean again.

Jared spat the rest of the toothpaste out of his mouth, rinsed with some water and returned his toothbrush to the stand before he slowly backed out of the room, warily eyeing the mass of matted hair in the plug.

He quietly shut the door behind him and shuddered as he thought about what he had seen in there. He scurried back into his room, threw on his work clothes hastily, and shoved everything he’d need into his bag. Making sure to be quiet just so he didn’t have to face anyone, he ran out of the apartment.

Jared made it to Mike’s house in record timing, and knocked on the door, not actually taking much note to just how early in the morning it was. He fully blamed the fact that he was still in shock and still not entirely awake for his reaction to the guy that opened the door.

Jared opened his mouth to beg/explain himself to Mike when the door was pulled open, but all that came out was a startled squeak when he saw the tall, green-eyed, dirty blond _God_ that was standing in front of him, looking both confused and annoyed. Though both those emotions soon turned into concern when Jared continued to just gape and blink. Like a moron. A spastic moron.

“Er… you okay?” Jared blinked again and tried to find his voice, before he coughed and felt his blood rushing into his face. Which, he supposed, was better than where it _could_ have gone.

“Freckles.” Which really wasn’t what Jared had wanted to say, but happened to be something he noticed about the poor guy standing in Mike’s doorway. And had Jared been thinking beyond ‘cute guy with freckles’ he’d have worked out that the guy was either Mike’s housemate or… well it really couldn’t be anyone else.

“Erm…” The guy, Jen? Jan? Seriously Jared needed to listen to Mike more when he spoke about the guy, especially now that he knew what he looked like.

“Sorry! Erm. I’m Jared. Which… er… Mike may have mentioned me? Possibly? I don’t know,” Jared said, snapping his mouth shut when he felt the overwhelming urge to share his entire life’s history with the guy.

“Oh! Right, yeah, Jared. Yeah, he talks about you quite a bit. Come in, dude. Sorry. Not really with it. Only just woke up,” The guy, and Jared had to find out a way to get his name as referring to him as ‘the guy’ was just annoying, said.

Jared smiled brightly at the really, utterly hot guy (which was actually a creepier term for him, even if only mentally) and then followed him into the house, glancing towards Mike’s bedroom door warily, and feeling guilty at having probably woken Mike’s housemate up.

“Sorry, I sort of forgot how early it was. I didn’t mean to wake you up or anything,” Jared apologised sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing around the kitchen as he took a seat at the breakfast bar, watching the other male start to make coffee.

“You didn’t wake me up, don’t worry about it. Seriously, I’ve got a shift in about an hour and a half. So I had to be up anyway. Mike though…”

“Yeah, he was always a little… difficult to get out of bed in the morning,” Jared said with a grin, then glanced to the side at a message on the whiteboard attached to the fridge, inwardly cheering at the message left on it. Even if it did bring back uncomfortable feelings from his own household notes. Still, apparently the note was to someone called Jensen…, which, would surely be the guy in front of him’s name.

“Yeah. So, why are you here so early in the morning? Not that I’m complaining, just… curious,” Jensen said, placing a mug of coffee in front of Jared and then taking a seat on the stool opposite him with his own mug in his hands.

“Oh… er… Actually… strange and random question but um… can I use your shower? I mean, I’m not a freak. Well, I probably am, who, other than a freak would sign up for a major that makes them read a literary classic a day and at least one incomprehensible play a week? But, I’m not a creepy freak, like… I don’t wanna perv over you in the shower. I’m just not entirely sure my tetanus jab is up to date and I don’t want to risk catching something unsightly by taking a shower in my own place. Which is likely. I’m thinking the blame is either Chad or Milo. Jason seems sort of… clean to OCD levels. Which is just as disturbing as Chad’s lack of regard for hygiene. Actually, given Chad wants to be a doctor, maybe it’s not. I’m rambling. I should stop. So? Shower?” Jared asked, looking at Jensen with wide eyes, fully using what Mike referred to as the ‘puppy-dog eyes of doom’. Jensen just blinked at him silently, then seemed to visibly melt at the force of Jared’s pleading look.

“I have no idea what you just said, dude, but sure. Shower away,” Jensen said, waving in the direction of the bathroom. Jared smiled widely at him, resisting the urge to coo when he noticed a blush creeping up Jensen’s neck and cheeks.

“Thanks, seriously,” Jared said, still smiling widely, downing the rest of the coffee, used to the burning of his throat from so many mornings drinking the stuff and placing the mug on the bar as he hopped off the stool.

“No problem. Though, I fully expect an explanation on why you’re here using our shower when you get out,” Jensen called after him quietly, making Jared stumble a little and then look back at Jensen.

“Right, yeah. That’ll be fun,” Jared told him with a wince, then walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He only just resisted the urge to bang his head on the door.

* * *

Jared walked out of the bathroom a little while later having showered and dressed a bit more tidily, not wanting to feel the wrath of Danneel, the scary yet beautiful and hilarious manager of the coffee shop he worked at. He noticed Jensen was still sitting in the kitchen, but was now joined by Mike, which actually shocked Jared a little. Well, now he was awake enough to realise the time, that is.

“Jay-Baby!” Mike exclaimed as soon as he noticed Jared enter the room behind him. Jared grinned sheepishly at him and sent a thankful smile to Jensen, who just watched on in amusement.

“Hey, Mike.”

“Jaybee! What are you doing here, using my shower? Strange little man that you are,” Mike said, smiling widely at him, ignoring the snort from Jensen and mutter about Jared hardly being classed as small. “You hoping to catch Jenny Bean in the shower? Lure him in there with your dimples and big eyes? Naughty!”

Jared could feel his face inflame, but felt somewhat better about it seeing that Mike’s words had the same affect on Jensen. Jared narrowed his eyes at Mike and smacked the back of Mike’s head, smirking at the satisfying slapping noise his hand made upon contact with the bald skin.

“Oh shut up. You try living in the middle of a war zone. It’s terrible. I may develop PTSD. Misha is quite concerned about that,” Jared muttered, sitting down next to Mike and letting his head drop into his arms on the bar.

“You promised to explain that if I let you use our shower,” Jensen commented lightly, clearly being some sort of caffeine dealer as he placed another mug of coffee in front of Jared. And Jared was, once more, awake enough to wonder how someone he’d never met before, somehow knew how he took his coffee. Though, black with enough sugar to make it syrupy probably wasn’t hard to figure out. Well, the black part at least.

“Fuck. It’s horrible,” Jared moaned into his arms, ignoring Mike’s comforting (if not a little patronising) patting of his head.

“What’s happened? I got something about tetanus before you lost me,” Jensen admitted, and Jared glanced through his fringe at Jensen, seeing him smiling at him in amusement.

“My flatmates are insane. They are passive aggressive in the most extreme ways,” Jared muttered, groaning once more and burying his head into the crook of his arm.

“No, I’m gonna take this one. Jaybee? How are they… ‘passive aggressive to the extreme’?” Mike asked, clearly interrupting Jensen before he could ask. Jared groaned again, but sat up and pulled his ringing phone out of his pocket before he could answer Mike’s questions.

“Yeah?” Jared asked, not looking at who it was before he answered, too stunned that someone was ringing him at seven thirty in the morning in the first place.

 _”Jared? Jared, you left me. You left me in a house that has some sort of bizarre pube monster breeding in the shower. That may take years of therapy to get over, and I want to_ be _a therapist! Why did you leave me? Where are you? I need out of this place! Chad found the note just as Jason woke up and now they’re actually writing notes to one another to express their anger. Who does that, Jared? I’m writing my paper for my psych class this semester on them!”_ Jared, having placed his phone on speaker as soon as he heard Misha’s voice, snorted and shook his head mournfully, whilst Jensen just gaped at the phone and Mike tried to muffle his giggles in his hands.

“I’m at Mike’s, Meesh. I’ll be at work in about fifteen minutes though. Wanna meet me there? Ask Danneel for my morning coffee if you get there before me. She knows and loves you. Just aim those freakish blue eyes at her. You know she’ll swoon,” Jared said, whilst Jensen continued to silently look between him and his phone, curiosity in his gaze.

 _”Right, I’ll meet you there then. I need to get dressed. Are there showers at your place? Please say there are. I don’t have health insurance. I pretended I was you the last time I needed it. Sorry about that, by the way. They may ask how you’ve grown seven inches since your last visit if you go to Gen,”_ Misha admitted, making Mike give up on his attempts to muffle his laughter, and just leave the room, cackling loudly as he walked through the living room to his bedroom.

“Er… you can bring your friend over here after work, if you want,” Jensen offered tentatively, and Jared smiled widely at him.

 _”Who’s that? Jay, have you put me on speaker again? You know I don’t like that. People may be listening in. They may try to find out my plans for, you know, by what I’m saying. Though, thank you, faceless voice. Jay will bring me over in seven to eight hours,”_ Misha said, and Jensen snorted and shook his head in amusement.

“No problem.”

“Meesh, I’ve gotta go if I wanna get in to work on time. You know Danni threatened to cut off my balls and use them as an example for future employees if I’m late again. I’ll see you there, okay?”

 _”Sure thing, Jared,”_ Misha said and then hung up. Jared picked up his phone and placed it back in his pocket as he stood up off the stool.

“Hey, thanks for letting me use your shower. I really do need to get to work though. My manager is really very scary,” Jared said with a sheepish grin, making Jensen smirk at him.

“I know. Danneel Harris is an old friend of mine. She’s never mentioned a Jared before though. Look, I’m needed in work soon, so I can give you a lift if you want. And… er… off the record, I could probably get into your medical files and change your height to what it should be,” Jensen said, eyes lit up in amusement.

“Er… What do you _do_ ?” Jared asked, before cringing at the question and feeling a blush once more inflame his face. Judging by the amusement on Jensen’s face however, he wasn’t insulted.

“I work in the hospital. I’m a second year med student. Didn’t Mike tell you that?”

“No… truthfully? I sort of blank out about eighty percent of what Mike says most of the time,” Jared admitted with a sheepish grin.

“Much like the rest of us then? Right, well, I work at the hospital, thus I have access to your records… sort of. Any way, let’s head out shall we? Danneel probably will keep to her threat. She’s scary like that,” Jensen said, grabbing his keys and bag by the front door and leading Jared out the house and to his car.

* * *

  


* * *

Note Four

_’This yoghurt went out of date on the 20th of September. It is now the eighth of October. What do we do?’_

Jared walked into his apartment with Mike following behind him, eyes immediately looking around the room they entered - clearly searching for an elusive note - but seeing as Jared hadn’t actually had a panicked message from Misha, he wasn’t really expecting one. Not only that, but it had been a good ten days since the last one, so maybe they had sorted things out.

“No notes. I’m actually a little depressed about that,” Mike admitted as he followed Jared into the kitchen. Jared rolled his eyes and started to open cupboards to grab things he’d need to make lunch.

“I knew that was the only reason you agreed to come here for lunch. I’m feeling the love, Mike. It’s almost overwhelming,” Jared muttered as he opened the fridge.

“Well you’re not exactly a culinary genius. Besides, it’s Jensen’s turn to do the shopping and he hasn’t had the time yet, so we don’t actually have any food in the house,” Mike admitted, completely shameless in the fact that he was scamming off his impressionable friend.

“You su—oh for the love of God,” Jared muttered, eyes noticing the note on a yoghurt pot near the back of the fridge. He sighed and grabbed the eggs and bacon before closing the fridge door. He turned around to see a very interesting Mike looking at him from the small table they had.

“What? A new note? Please tell me it’s a new note!” Mike said, and Jared swore the man was almost bouncing in his seat in excitement. Which was actually somewhat disturbing to witness.

“Yeah. New note. Feel free to look, guffaw, do whatever the hell else you want,” Jared muttered, turning his back on Mike to start the omelette he had planned. Partially because an omelette was pretty much all he could make without things turning into a fire risk.

“Guffaw? You actually used guffaw in an everyday sentence? Damn, do I have to pay you now?” Mike asked, and Jared smirked, practically able to hear the pout in his friend's voice.

“Yep, ten dollars. Cough up. Better think of a harder word. Don’t worry, I’ll let you read my dictionary after we’ve eaten, if you want,” Jared said, feeling rather magnanimous with his decision, not that he was sure Mike would agree with that.

“You’d think I’d learn after doing this with you for over five years now,” Mike muttered, and Jared heard him open the fridge and start to look for the note. Which wasn’t hard given it was fluorescent pink.

“I know, I think you actually paid for part of the down payment on this place. Cheers for that. You finished taking amusement out of mine and Misha’s pain, yet? Food’s nearly ready.”

“When are you going to learn to make something other than omelettes and oven pizzas?” Mike asked, closing the fridge and moving to glance around Jared at the food.

“I can make mousse.”

“Which is strange. You don’t think your cooking repertoire is strange?” Mike asked, and Jared just shrugged and began to plate up the food, handing a plate to Mike before making his way to the table to sit down.

“No. So, you actually have class later or are you being responsible and being a TA once more?” Jared asked, grinning as he started to eat, looking at Mike try to act offended.

“I can be respectable if I want! I live with a trainee doctor! That’s responsible!”

“I live with Chad. A Trainee, trainee doctor. Am I responsible?”

“No, you’re reprehensible. Jensen actually _is_ responsible. Chad is… disgusting,” Mike pointed out brightly, and Jared found that he didn’t actually have anything to counter that.

_’Run for our lives!’_

“Will you be in later? Or are you actually going to prove that you have a life and go out?” Jared asked later, after they had both finished and moved the plates to the sink, to wipe down before shoving them into the dishwasher. Something Jared was actually considering worshipping, if he knew his mother wouldn’t beat him if she found out.

“No idea. Jensen probably will be. Today’s one of his long shifts at the hospital. I don’t have any plans yet, but Tommy may want to go out or something,” Mike admitted, placing the dishes into the washer, whilst Jared gathered up the unused ingredients and took them back to the fridge.

“What’s To—Mike! Don’t encourage the note war!”

* * *

It was about six hours later that Jared and Misha saw the consequences of Mike’s participation in the note war. And that was why they were now standing on Mike’s doorstep waiting (and hoping) that someone would answer the door. Jared glanced at Misha out the corner of his eyes and snorted as Misha bounced on the balls of his feet.

Both Jared and Misha jumped when the door was pulled open and Jensen peered out at them, looking somewhat sleep-deprived and grumpy.

“Er…”

“Jared? Misha? What are--? No, never mind. Come in,” Jensen muttered, stumbling back from the doorway to let the two enter, and walking back into the living room leaving the two to follow him into the house. Jared and Misha glanced at one another, and then followed behind the sleepy med student, Jared closing the door behind him.

“Where’s Mike?” Jared asked as he took a seat on the couch next to Misha, Jensen curled up in the large recliner.

“He went over to Tom’s. He’ll probably be back later on. Wanna talk about why you’re here? Or is the trauma too much?” Jensen asked, yawning at the end of the sentence and blinking at the two sleepily. Jared cringed as he recalled the atmosphere in the apartment when he and Misha had fled, and glanced to the side when Misha shuddered and shifted so that he was almost sitting on Jared.

“Er… Mike entered the note war,” Jared said, and Jensen nodded like it explained everything…, which it probably did.

“Ah, he okay?” Jensen asked, nodding to Misha at Jared’s side. Jared glanced to Misha, realising that Jensen had only actually met Misha for a few minutes previously, and therefore hadn’t actually been exposed to Misha’s… unique personality. Or his and Jared’s equally unique friendship.

“Yeah, he got caught in the middle of the fight between Chad and Jason. I managed to drag him out of it just before Milo joined in the screaming fit. It was… traumatic. Meesh ain’t slept all that much, either,” Jared explained with a one shouldered shrug and Jensen slowly nodded, yawning again.

“Right. So… you both fled from World War Three to here?” Jensen asked, glancing at the two and actually looking like he was interested.

“That’s about right. Neither of us is working tonight. Richard wouldn’t let me come in tonight. Said he’d start charging us rent if we spent any more time hiding out there. Plus, Jared was getting a little too comfortable in the sploshing room,” Misha added casually, and Jared coughed, blushed and then glared at Misha, who just grinned back.

“Sploshing?” Jensen asked, looking at the two completely bewildered, and Jared groaned and sank down further into the sofa when Misha sprung up and bounced a little in amusement.

“Oh yes! Food play. There’s a room dedicated to it at The Asylum Club,” Misha explained, and Jensen just gaped.

“Asy--?”

“It’s a fetish bar. Somehow Misha got a job there even though he’s not actually legally allowed to drink for another year and a bit,” Jared muttered, wondering if all the blood rushing to his head would actually cause him some health problems.

“Right….” Jensen agreed, nodding slowly, whilst Misha just snickered and moved back to a more comfortable position with his head on Jared’s lap. “So… you aren’t allowed to go to er…”

“The Asylum,” Misha supplied and Jensen just nodded, looking a little dazed.

“Yeah, there. So you came here? Wait, Jared, does Mike know you hide out in a fetish bar?” Jensen asked, and Jared snorted and raised an eyebrow.

“What do you think? If he knew I had free entrance to a fetish bar, he’d never leave me alone. Don’t dare tell him, either,” Jared told him, and Jensen smirked at him and mimed zipping his lips shut.

“Your secret is safe with me. I don’t actually think Mike even knows about the place,” Jensen admitted with a shrug. “I didn’t.”

“No, you have to be told about it. It’s a little… secretive and exclusive,” Misha explained with a sly grin.

“Huh. So you can’t go there, and I’m thinking you don’t want to go anywhere near Danneel today, given the mood she was in when I bumped into her. That leaves you with here?”

“Pretty much.”

“You gonna want to stay the night?”

“Possibly…” Jared admitted sheepishly, and Jensen snorted and shook his head.

“Right, well you’ll have to share the couch. Or sleep on the floor… or something,” Jensen muttered and Misha snickered, whilst Jared just smiled at him.

“It’s alright. Do you not have any plans for tonight?” Jared asked, watching Jensen yawn once more and shake his head.

“No. Well, besides sleep for the next week. Actually, mind if I head to bed now? Make yourselves at home, watch TV, eat Mike’s food. Just, let me sleep?” Jensen asked, looking a little pathetic and making Jared melt inside.

“Yeah, yeah, ‘course. Go sleep. We’ll make sure we don’t wake you. Thanks for letting us hide out here,” Jared said, and Jensen sleepily waved away his thanks and stumbled out of the room, the sound of the door to his bedroom shutting moments later.

“So… even sleepy, unshowered and kinda messy, he’s still hot. I’m impressed, Jay. Very impressed. We should introduce him to Richard.”

“No. Not happening.”

“So mean.”


	3. Chapter 3

Note Five

_’I have had to chuck out your terrible blanket – it was full of minging moths. I only realised when I went to get my black slacks for an interview on Friday to find so many holes it look like lace! You are going to have to chuck out loads of your stuff as they have got everywhere. Apparently if you freeze some of the clothes they are retrievable as it kills the eggs but I think we should just check everything. ~ Jason’_

Two weeks and Jared had finally developed the ability to no longer be disturbed by the notes he found. He’d also learnt the best way to save the clothes he truly didn’t want to see eaten by moths; leave them at Mike’s. Misha had also picked up on that handy little tip.

Jared and Misha had both found the note attached to the cork board in the hallway that led to all their rooms and neither one actually had any comment, though Jared had the overwhelming urge to scratch.

“This is our life,” Jared muttered and Misha made a strange whining groan of agreement to that, accompanied by a nod. “Who is it aimed at? Does explain why there was a hole in my shirt that I couldn’t remember getting though.”

“It’s clearly not either of us or Jason, leaves Chad and Milo… and it really is an equal toss up between the two,” Misha pointed out with a slight grimace, the two still standing and looking at the note (which was actually on lime green paper that Jared wondered _where_ Jason had gotten it from.)

“So… honestly? I don’t think it’s aimed at Chad. He’s a disgusting douche with some things, but his clothes? Nah, he takes too much pride in his clothing,” Jared commented, then gave a girly shriek when someone spoke behind them.

“Aw, cheers for the vote of confidence, Dude,” Jared spun around, heart practically pounding out of his chest to see Chad leaning against his doorframe, smirking at the two of them. “You’re right though, wasn’t me.”

“Huh,” Misha muttered, staring at the wall just above Chad’s shoulder at seemingly nothing, and making Chad fidget subconsciously.

“I say we go get drunk,” Chad said with a grin, and Jared and Misha glanced at one another and then grinned back at him.

“I think you might be on to something.”

“We’ve got an accord,” Jared said straight after Misha, getting a groan from both the males next to him.

“Dude, Mike’s not here. You don’t get money from using your geeky language skills around us,” Chad said, stretching up to smack Jared over the back of his head. “Now, let’s go get ready, I told Sophia I’d meet her in Unit by eight,” Chad told them, turning on his heel and heading back in his room. “Be ready in thirty minutes, bitches.”

“He’s an acquired taste,” Misha commented lightly, and blinked slowly at Chad’s door, making Jared snort.

“Come on, let’s get ready.”

* * *

“See, the thing about moths is they’re just depressingly stupid.” Jared nodded his head, vaguely listening to Chad’s drunken ramblings and not trying particularly hard to hide his amusement. Chad was too drunk to notice anyway.

“How so?” Misha asked, and Misha? He was just encouraging Chad’s drunken theories, which was even more amusing. Especially as Misha wasn’t actually drunk.

“Well, think about it. Evolution ain’t been kind to the fugly little bastards. They fly around with no actual purpose in their miserably short lives until they inevitably die, their little corpses stuck in a lamp,” Chad explained, and it always impressed Jared how Chad actually became _more_ coherent and intelligent sounding the more he drank. Even if his theories became more convoluted and… strange.

“It _is_ annoying and disturbing that they find natural fibres really tasty,” Misha agreed sagely, nodding his head as he took a sip from his glass of coke (which he claimed had JD in it, but Jared knew for a fact was just coke.)

“See! You’re cool, Collins. Knew you’d see my side of things,” Chad said, clapping Misha hard on the back, and making the darker haired male jerk forward in surprise.

“They do have that creepy covering of dust on their wings,” Jared agreed, finally deciding to join in the bizarre conversation. “And that noise they make.”

“What noise, Padanerd?” Chad asked, blearily looking over at Jared in confusion, whilst Misha just smiled vaguely, eyes not actually focused on anything.

“You know,” Jared leant over the table and rubbed his fingers and thumbs together next to Chad’s ear before pulling away, “that noise! In your ear. So you shit yourself when you’re reading for something.”

“Oh yeah, I see what you mean. So really, how anyone could think any of us were to blame for this, I don’t know. Where’s Soph?” Chad asked, finally noticing that his girlfriend (for the time being at least, Chad and Sophia were one of those couples that could never actually stay together for too long or they’d kill one another, but at the same time, can’t actually seem to let the other go.) hadn’t been with them for almost twenty minutes now.

“She went to dance with Alison,” Jared told him, nodding his head towards where the two girls were dancing together, before turning back to the others.

“Huh. When’d she go?”

“They both decided to leave us the third time you decided to bring up the current problems we’re having in our apartment,” Misha said, still staring at whatever it was that only he could see. Jared was far too used to this behaviour. Apparently it made people think he was either insane, slow, drunk or a combination of the three, and thus they were more inclined to talk about private things near him.

“Hey, hey!!! It’s my little Jaybee with Douche-Chad and Meee Shaar!” All three whipped their heads around to look towards the exuberant yell and saw Mike heading their way, followed by an amused Jensen, a tall dark haired guy that Jared thought was possibly Tom, but he could be wrong, and a shorter guy with long hair and, Jared blinked, a cowboy hat. Strange.

“Oh fuck me, I thought he’d have died of an overdose by now or something,” Chad groaned, letting his head slam down on to the table, whilst Jared snickered and Misha just smiled absently.

“Mike! Hey, what are you guys doing here? Doesn’t strike me as the place any of you would willingly enter,” Jared quite rightly commented, seeing the grimace on the shorter guys face, whilst Jensen just shook his head, still amused and Tom snorted.

“We saw you three here, and I thought ‘Let’s go see how my Jaybee and his minions are doing.’ Like the loving friend I am!”

“My minions,” Misha commented lightly, making everyone’s attention turn to him and watch him continue to stare at dust particles (maybe? Jared didn’t actually _want_ to know).

“What?”

“Jared and Chad are my minions,” Misha explained calmly, finally turning his gaze to Mike, who just smiled widely at him.

“Aw! Well, if I have to hand over my little Jaybee to anyone, it should be you,” Mike agreed, grabbing a stool and sitting at the table, the other three joining him. Jared flushed and fidgeted slightly at the amused stare Misha sent him when Jensen sat next to him.

“So, any new notes this week?” Jensen asked, and the shorter guy snickered on his other side, slapping his hand on the table in amusement.

“These two told us about your plight. Very amusing. You should keep the notes for something,” the guy said as explanation, still snickering softly and shaking his head.

“Er…”

“Yeah, this is Chris, my oldest friend and bit of a dick. You’ll get used to him,” Jensen introduced with a wave of his hand, before looking back at Jared with a raised eyebrow. “New notes?”

“Oh! Yeah—“

“Dude, moths!” Chad said, and both Jared _and_ Misha groaned at the thought of having to listen to Chad’s explanations on moth evolution again. Apparently even Misha drew the line at more than three times.

“Moths?” Jensen asked, looking confused about Chad’s answer and the resulting reaction from Jared and Misha.

“No, don’t start him off again,” Jared hissed, whilst Misha just hummed softly, making Jared wish he’d taken him with him to his happy place.

“Have I ever told you why I hate moths?”

“Too late.”

* * *

“Jared and Jensen sitting in a tree—“

“Meesh,” Jared sighed and cringed as Misha skipped along beside him on the way back to their apartment. Misha had finally started drinking, heavily, once Chad started his moth evolution explanation for a seventh time, and was now squiffy.

“You’re right, that is very childish. But it goes with your schoolgirl crush you have there,” Misha pointed out, wrapping himself around Jared’s arm in an attempt to stay vertical.

“I don’t have a crush,” Jared said, though not with much conviction, seeing as once Misha got an idea in his head, he would cling to it with an impressive tenacity. Plus Jared was shit at lying. Even to himself.

“Uh huh, of course not. Do you think we will have a home to go to?” Misha asked suddenly, and Jared cringed at the memory of what they’d ran away from.

“I hope so,” Jared muttered, steadying Misha when he stumbled. “We’d have heard the sirens if something truly terrible had happened, surely.”

“You do have a point. Unless the moths converged and ate everything in the apartment,” Misha pointed out morosely, and Jared winced.

“We should hurry up.”

“We should.”

* * *

  


* * *

Note Six

_’Are you trying to grow penicillin in this coffee mug? Could you clean it up please, ‘cause it’s all kinds of disgusting.’_

Jared eyed the scolding hot water pouring into the jug in contemplation, before shaking his head and pouring the finished cappuccino into the paper cup and taking it to where the customer was waiting for it. He smiled weakly at the man, who just glared back, and then turned back to see Sandy looking at him in barely hidden amusement.

“I’m not taking you to the ER if you burn yourself,” Sandy told him bluntly, clearly wondering why he had been eyeing the boiling water speculatively. Seeing as the morning rush had come to a brief end and there was (surprisingly) no line, Jared sighed and shook his head, leaning on the counter.

“New note,” Jared moaned, and Sandy disturbed him slightly by cackling, and shifting to get comfortable against the counter opposite Jared. Jared glanced to the side to see Danneel quickly hurrying over with a look of glee on her face.

“New note, was that? Oh, do share. Your current home life is better than any soap opera,” Danneel told him, wiping her hands on her apron and then crossing her arms over her chest, leaning next to Sandy and not even bothering to hide her anticipation.

“It was horrifying. If I just let that water wash my hands, it should clean me, right?” Jared asked, looking back to the huge coffee maker than the shop used, and Danneel cackled gleefully.

“Sure, if you want, but before you melt the skin from your hand, causing me to have to close the shop in order to take you to the hospital, share with us _why_ you feel the need to do so.” So Jared told them about the note he found that morning, and the cup it was stuck to, shuddering in reminder.

“Okay, that? That’s gross and I sort of want to join you in burning the skin off my body with scolding water,” Sandy admitted with an exaggerated shudder.

“I refuse to treat you if you do. What’s up?” Jared and Sandy both jumped with small yelps, while Danneel just looked amused, when Jensen spoke up from behind them.

“Jensen! How are you? And what are you doing in here? You never come in here. Ever,” Danneel said, looking at a blushing Jensen suspiciously, while Jared tried to prevent his heart from bursting out of his chest, Sandy next to him looking like she was doing the same.

“Just passing by, thought I’d come in and see how you were. Good thing I did. Why are you all considering first degree burns?” Jensen asked, having apparently calmed his own blush down and was now eyeing them all like they were clearly insane. Which Jared would secretly agree they were.

“Jared’s new note,” Danneel said with a wave of her hand, leaving it at that and really not having to explain it further.

“Huh, that bad?” Jensen asked, taking the coffee mug from Jared with a grateful smile, which turned equal parts concerned and intrigued.

“Jared’s housemate is growing penicillin in his mugs,” Danneel explained, while Jared whilst Jared heaved a self-suffering sigh and Jensen’s face turned quickly to disgusted horror.

“Maybe he actually _is_! Now, I mean, maybe he really is growing it to er… I dunno, help in his studies of something,” Sandy said, causing Danneel and Jensen to look confused, while Jared look speculative.

“Er… how would that help his studies?” Danneel asked. Jensen leaned on the counter hear the explanation.

“Chad’s pre-med,” Jared explained with a shrug, and snorted at the completely stunned looks on Jensen and Danneel’s faces.

“No, really. What’s the real reason?” Danneel finally asked, clearly remembering how to talk once again.

“I’m not kidding. He wants to be a paediatrician, or possibly a gynaecologist,” Jared said with a shrug, and Jensen choked on the coffee he had just taken a sip of.

“Please tell me you’re joking. Lie, if you have to,” Jensen finally gasped out, looking grateful when Sandy slapped him on his back, and Jared just shrugged.

“Okay, Chad’s actually studying Performing Arts and in truth wants to graduate to be a tree in Broadway,” Jared deadpanned, and Jensen made a strange keening moan.

“I’ve only met him once and I know I don’t want to work in the same building as him. Oh God,” Jensen groaned, shifting to rest his body across the counter and hide his head under his arms.

“See? That is why I knew you should have gone into acting, instead of medicine, Jen,” Danneel said, before turning to Jared, ignoring her friends plight. “You _were_ kidding about the gynaecology part, right?”

“Yeah, mostly,” Jared admitted, before his head snapped to the door opening, concerned frown forming on his face when it was Misha that stumbled into the shop, looking a little frazzled. “Meesh?”

“Jared! Jared, did you see the new note? Did you?!” Misha asked, rushing passed, and ignoring the still mourning Jensen, in order to reach across the counter and grab Jared’s shirt collar and shake him lightly.

“Meesh, calm down. And yeah, I saw the note,” Jared said, gently prying Misha’s fingers from his collar, ignoring the amusement coming from his colleagues.

“Jared, it’s getting worse. First there were pubic monsters in the drains, then there were moths eating our clothes, and now… now there are _things_ growing in our cups! When will it end, Jared?!” Misha exclaimed, the stress clearly getting to him for him to actually show more emotion than serenity in front of people he didn’t know.

“Misha, calm down. Deep breaths. It’ll be okay. We’ve got a dishwasher, that’ll clean our dishes, though we’re throwing out that one mug,” Jared muttered with an exaggerated shudder, noticing that Sandy, Danneel and Jensen (who clearly found Misha’s breakdown much more interesting than his own plight) were all staring at them with wide eyes.

“Jay… _Jay_!”

“Yes, Misha, I completely understand. You do know you’re still in your pyjama’s right?” Jared finally asked, noticing that his friend was wearing the normal navy jogging bottoms and baggy grey t-shirt that he normally wore to bed. Thankfully he noticed that Misha _had_ had the forethought to put on trainers before he left the apartment.

“I didn’t have time to change! I needed to find you!” Misha explained, and Jared snorted and shook his head in exasperation. He glanced to see that Danneel was shaking in silent laughter and leaning on Sandy, who didn’t look like she was coping much better at not showing her amusement.

“Danneel, can Meesh go into the staff room and change into my spare clothes in there?” Jared asked, and Danneel, snickering softly, just nodded her head and waved towards the back door.

“Thanks. Jensen? You okay?” Jared asked, noticing that Jensen just looked slightly dazed as he watched him and Misha. However, the sound of Jensen’s name made Misha step back from Jared and look at the now startled (yet still somewhat dazed) man with narrow eyes.

“Jensen! You and Mike have mugs! Jared and I will need to use those from now on. Yes?” Misha asked, widening his blue eyes and tilting his head to the side slightly. Jensen just opened his mouth silently, before snapping it shut and just nodding his head. “Good! Are you sure you don’t mind me wearing your clothes, Jared?”

“No. Come on. You’ve got class in like, ten minutes, Meesh,” Jared said with a sigh and a shake of his head as he led Misha into the back room. Just as the door shut behind Misha, he heard Danneel ask Jensen if he was okay. Though he didn’t hear Jensen’s answer.

“So, he’s coming in to your place of work now, huh? It’s true love, Jay-Jay. Aw! You’re all grown up, I’m so proud.”

“Shut up, Meesh, or you’ll be going to class in your pj’s.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Misha said with a shrug, and Jared snorted, recalling all the other times that had happened.


	4. Chapter 4

Note Seven

_’Dear Chad, Hope you don’t mind me cleaning your damp wank rag off the table. It’s just that I was expecting friends round for dinner and they probably think that it’s a fucking disgrace that someone would have the audacity to wank in my living room then wander off like they’d just finished work for the evening. This note serves to close your grubby little episode. It’s also your notice to clean up your act, literally and figuratively. In the meantime, put one foot wrong and I’ll set fire to your stuff, not even kidding. ~ Jason’_

“That’s just wrong. Seriously? Tell me you’re kidding. I don’t think my delicate mind could handle if that was an actual note found,” Mike said to Jared, after Jared had explained the newest note, and the reason for him and Misha hiding, once more, in his house.

“I wish he was joking. I may be scarred for life. Or clone Chad. I’m switching between the two,” Misha muttered from where he was sprawled across the sofa. He was carefully braiding tiny little plaits in Jared’s, who was sitting on the floor in front of him, hair.

“He left the tissues on the table?” Michael asked, looking a little ill at the thought. Misha sighed as he nodded while Jared cringed, mentally thanking that he wasn’t the one who found them.

“I think, more worryingly, was the fact that he was whacking off in the living room,” Jared said, wincing when Misha tugged sharply at his hair in shock.

“Yeah… actually, you might be right on that one. And I thought your brother was disgusting, Jay,” Michael said with a shudder, and Jared snickered and nodded his head.

“Why’d you think I’m dealing better than Meesh and Jason? Milo, disturbingly, didn’t seem all that surprised by it. Which makes me wonder if some of those tissues were his,” Jared mused and Misha sniggered behind him, once more returning to playing with Jared’s hair.

“Really? Chad and Milo?” Misha asked while Michael began to cackle quietly, clearly trying to muffle it with his fist. Though Jared wasn’t entirely sure why, given that there wasn’t anyone else in the house to disturb.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right on that one. I don’t see Chad sleeping with Milo,” Jared agreed, and Misha made an agreeing noise.

“Plus Sophia would have something to say about it,” Mike pointed out once he had stopped laughing, making both Jared and Misha snort.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Mike. Sophia and Chad aren’t together anymore,” Jared said, only for Misha to snort derisively.

“You mean ‘at the moment’, right? You know they’ll be back together by next month,” Misha pointed out, and Jared shook his head quickly.

“No. I was talking to Sophia in Language earlier today and she was quite insistent that she wasn’t going to go back to him this time. In fact, apparently she’s going on a date with someone tomorrow night,” Jared explained to them, and Misha huffed behind him.

“I give her a month.”

“Meesh.”

“Yeah, Misha, give the poor woman a little credit! I say six weeks,” Mike said, and Jared just sighed and gave up on defending his friend’s honour. He gave her two months anyway.

“So you said Jensen was at work?” Jared asked, trying to make his voice sound nonchalant, though given the look Mike gave him, and the snicker from Misha, he gathered he’d failed.

“Yep, so no moony eyed looks from you two today. Christ, you haven’t even progressed to eye fucking yet. It’s depressing. Actually, saying that, he’ll be back later, if you’re still here. So maybe you’ll be able to fit in a starry eyed look before you head out. Where you going again?”

“Misha’s working. And we don’t gaze at one another, dickwad,” Jared huffed, ignoring the disbelieving look Mike shot him.

“You still haven’t told me where it is you work,” Mike pointed out, and Jared grinned as he almost could _feel_ Misha’s discomfort and refusal to tell Mike where he worked. Not that Jared blamed him.

“It’s a bar, Mike. Boring, normal bar,” Jared said, hearing a strangled grunt of amusement come from Misha behind him.

Jared and Misha were saved from having to elaborate more on that, when the door to the house opened, and not longer after, a somewhat worn out Jensen walked into the living room, not even batting an eyelid at seeing Jared and Misha sitting there. Which, for Jared, was just proof at how often they spent there.

“Long day at work?” Mike asked, looking highly amused when Jensen just grunted and seemed to drop to the floor next to Jared and rest his head back to rest on the sofa by Misha’s leg.

“Remind me again why I chose this path in life?” Jensen muttered, rubbing his hands over his face, and then turning to blink at Jared sleepily. “Why have you got braids in your hair?”

“Misha,” Jared said, watching Jensen nod his head in understanding as Misha’s fingers once more found their way into his hair and started on another braid.

“So what note drove you here this time?” Jensen asked, and Jared opened his mouth silently and then shut it again with a barely audible snap. He wasn’t entirely sure that he could go through with saying it again.

“Jason found Chad’s wank tissues on the living room table. Misha also thinks that some were Milo’s. Jared is scarred from the thought of those two having a wank party together, and we’re all in agreement that Sophia will be going back to Chad within six weeks. Well, by all, I mean Misha and I. Jared still has some bizarre belief in Sophia’s self restraint,” Mike explained, and Jensen sniggered and slyly looked at Jared from the corner of his eyes while Jared glared at Mike.

“Two months,” Jensen said and Jared snorted and shook his head.

“You’re all horrible, horrible people and I am never letting any of you talk to Sophia alone,” Jared muttered, yelping when Misha yanked at his hair. “Meesh, leave the hair alone!”

“I’m lovely.”

“If I agree, will you leave my hair alone?”

“Yes.”

“Then, Meesh, you are the most incredible, lovely person I know,” Jared said, rubbing the back of his head to try and ease the sharp pain from Misha having yanked his hair. Jensen and Mike watched them in silent amusement, until Misha made an approving noise, and Mike made a whipping noise.

“Dude, you’re whipped,” Mike said with a snort and Jared just glared at him.

“Whatever, like you’re not. Meesh, we’re gonna have to head out if you want to get to work on time. You’ve gotta get changed after all,” Jared pointed out, and Misha groaned but sat up properly on the sofa, stretching his back while Jensen and Jared both stood up.

“You’ve got to change as well. You know Richard will bitch if you aren’t dressed right. He claims you put off the clients when you’re dressed like you just fell out of bed,” Misha pointed out, and both Mike and Jensen chuckled while Jared pouted as he started undoing the braids.

"Fine, but that means we really do need to leave now. Mike, Jensen, we'll probably be back here by the end of the week at least. Thanks for letting us hide out here. Again," Jared added with a wry grin.

"It's fine, Jared," Jensen told him with a soft smile, though if he was going to say anything else he was interrupted by Mike before he got the chance.

"Where exactly is it that you work, Misha? Seriously, share with the group! Don't keep us in suspense!" Mike whined, making Jensen snicker behind his hand before he could stop it. "Jensen! You know? You know and you haven't told me?"

"Of course he doesn't know, he's probably laughing at how ridiculous you sound. Leave Meesh and Jensen alone," Jared said, a grin fighting to break across his lips.

"Fine! You keep your secrets! See if I care!" Mike said, doing a remarkable impersonation of a five year old.

"We will. Talk to you later. Bye!" Jared called out as he and Misha left the house, both snorting in amusement when they heard Mike whining at Jensen to tell him where Misha worked.

* * *

Jared grabbed his usual stool at the bar in The Asylum, sniggering to himself as he watched an exasperated Richard attempt to untangle Misha from the other bar tender that night. He managed to stop when Richard finally got the two detangled and walked over to him, amused exasperation in his amber eyes as he looked at Jared.

"So Meesh informed me of the newest note. Drinks are on the house tonight. I feel I should help you forget the emotional trauma by giving you alcohol poisoning. I'll even pay for your taxi fair to the ER," Richard informed him with a wicked grin, making Jared's usual drink and placing it in front of him.

"Thanks, Richard. You're so magnanimous it's overwhelming," Jared told him dryly, picking up the drink and downing a good part of it in one go.

"Well I don't want it said that I don't take care of my most valued of patrons. And you, Jared, are here more often than most. Even if you don't pay for most of your drinks," Richard said, sighing when he heard the unmistakeable sound of Misha choking.

"He's okay, just got it caught on a pump. Why you force him to wear it is beyond me though. Chaining Misha to the bar is just asking for trouble," Jared said, chuckling as he watched his best friend detangled himself from the beer pump and carry on serving the customer as though nothing had happened.

"You know why they wear those things. It's for their own good. It's why you also wear one!"

"Yeah, but I don't move unless I have to. And even then I get to unclip it," Jared pointed out, still smiling slightly. Richard just huffed and dragged his fingers through his hair.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time. Never employed someone quite as clumsy as Misha before," Richard admitted, cringing when the sound of smashing glass sounded behind him, followed closely by Misha’s muttered curse.

“You’ve got to admit that he’s amusing, though,” Jared pointed out, stifling the laugh that wanted to burst out when he saw Misha get tangled in his leash once more, and almost throw a pint over the, now wary looking, customer.

“Sure, amusing. So, wanking tissues?”

“I thought you wanted to get me drunk enough so that I forget about that?” Jared groaned, letting his head drop to the bar.

“That was before I remembered that you’re a brat and that I technically shouldn’t even be serving you,” Richard said with a scowl. Jared glanced up through his fringe at him and moved to tug his drink nearer to him, just in case Richard tried to take it off him.

“You provided me with the fake ID, besides, if you’re going with that reasoning, then technically Misha shouldn’t be serving either,” Jared pointed out, just as Misha passed behind Richard to grab a bottle of some alcohol Jared had yet to dare to try. It was bright green; he felt justified in feeling leery of it.

“Are you talking about me? What are you saying? Anything interesting?” Misha asked, completely forgetting about the thirsty customer he’d left behind.

“No. Don’t you have drinks to make?” Richard asked, and Misha just smiled brightly at him and walked off with the alcohol to make whatever drink he had been making.

“Don’t _you_ have a job to do?” Jared asked in amusement, and Richard shot a glare at him, though there wasn’t any heat behind it.

“Why do you think I employ all these people? So I don’t have to actually do anything. Now, I assume you’ll be staying for the entirety of Misha’s shift?” Richard asked him, pulling two shot glasses up from under the bar and placing them between himself and Jared. Jared watched him warily, as he then reached over and grabbed four different bottles and placed them on the bar next to the glasses.

“Yeah. He’s here all night, isn’t he?” Jared asked, still not taking his eyes off the shot glasses as Richard expertly poured out the drinks.

“Yep, I’ll assume then, that you will be raiding the sploshing room once this place closes then?” Richard asked, rolling his eyes good-naturedly when Jared grinned and nodded. “Right, I’ll have the doggy bags ready then. Now, have a blow job, it’ll loosen you up and prepare you for the rest of the night.”

* * *

  


* * *

Note Eight

_’Washing up is for mugs!’_

So Jared was confused. Admittedly, sometimes it didn’t take all that much for him to become in such a state, but normally it involved Iambic Pentameter and other confusing states of literature that Jared was sure Shakespeare and Marlowe created just with the pure purpose of fucking with the minds of students years into the future. He wasn’t normally confused about why three of his housemates were suddenly gunning for blood, his in particular, and why he had no idea where Misha was. Then again, he vaguely remembered Misha claiming he had a meeting with a guidance councillor or something. _Something_ about changing his major at least. Again.

So he was confused. And maybe a little scared at just how unbalanced Jason looked as he wielded a somewhat dirty mug in his general direction, screaming something about washing and mugs and how he wasn’t one. See? No sense whatsoever. What was even more confusing, was the fact that Milo and Chad were _agreeing_ with Jason. An unholy trinity if he had ever seen one.

“Wait, wait, what?!” Jared asked, finally having enough of being screamed at (and threatened with a used mug) and not actually having any idea why. “What have I done exactly?”

“A note! You left a note! We know it was you, because it wasn’t any of us, and Misha doesn’t drink that strange sugary raspberry tea shit you drink, Jay,” Chad accused, looking at Jared with extreme disappointment the likes of which Jared hadn’t had aimed at him since Jeff convinced him to use sharpies and turn all Megan’s Barbie’s into clowns. Actually, he was fairly certain he still had the scar from when Megan found out it was him and threw her Barbie Corvette at his head.

“A note? I didn’t leave a note,” Jared said, confusion just mounting, as well as a small amount of curiosity over what the note said to cause such rage in his fellow housemates. Of course, given that Jason was the one with a mounting blood pressure problem, it possibly said he’d wash his pots when he got back. OCD was a problem with that guy.

“If you didn’t leave it, then who did? Misha? You’re telling us that Misha has decided he likes whatever the hell it was in that cup?” Milo asked, a look of pure disbelief on his face, and privately Jared agreed with him. Misha wouldn’t touch Jared’s blackberry sweet tea with a ten-foot pole if you paid him.

“No, I mean I didn’t leave the note!” Jared exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

“You could have still washed your damned dirty dishes! Or just filled the dishwasher at least once since we’ve lived here! Have you ever done that? Ever?!” Jason asked loudly, getting very close to just shouting at Jared. Jared just gritted his teeth and took a deep breath to prevent his own yelling that wanted to get out.

“I put my dishes in the washer when I use them, but I don’t know if you’ve noticed, I don’t spend all that long in this place! I work all the time, unless I’m in classes, then I’m at uni!” Jared exclaimed, still waving his hands and arms around in frustration, while Jason just looked unimpressed. Milo and Chad, however, had the common sense to stay quiet. Apparently, Chad at least, remembered that although Jared was generally easy going, he _was_ six foot five, so when he was pissed, most people around him knew about it.

“Well clearly you don’t or we never would have had to have this discussion,” Jason said with a sneer, and Jared paused in his flailing for all of a second, just to gape.

“ _Discussion_?! The Nazi’s called them discussions as well! Look, this is… this is ridiculous! I have work to go to in an hour and I have essays and shit to finish! I can’t deal with your paranoia that some sort of mug monster is out to get you! Just… that note wasn’t from me. Whatever the fuck it might have said!” Jared exclaimed, voicing slowly getting louder as he brought himself up to stand up straight, towering over everyone else in the room.

Of course, all that anger blew right out of him when Chad handed him the note and he read it. In hindsight, laughing possibly wasn’t the best thing to do upon reading it.

* * *

It was two days before Jared was supposed to be leaving for Thanksgiving, three days after the (admittedly funny) note was left and had brought the ire of the unholy Trinity down on Jared like a pack of peckish wolves. Of course, Misha had tried to step in and diffuse the situation, but ended up making it worse, much like Jared, by laughing at the note.

So Jared and Misha were now the scapegoats of the apartment for everything that went wrong. It was annoying.

“It’s gotten to the point that Misha is hiding somewhere and refuses to come back unless he absolutely needs to. And I have no idea where he is staying. His boss isn’t sure either. It’s very worrying,” Jared muttered, steaming the milk before angrily adding it to the cappuccino he was making. “Here.”

“Er… thanks,” Jensen warily took the drink from Jared and took a cautious sip of the scolding liquid. “Misha was over at ours yesterday. Said you had class or something.”

“Huh. Okay then. Still, it’s becoming unbearable in the damn place and I have no idea who wrote the note,” Jared muttered, groaning and shifting to rest his head on his arms on the counter.

“Oi! I don’t pay you to slack around!” Danneel yelled from the back, making Jared flinch and Jensen jump in shock.

“It’s half six in the morning! Jensen’s the only person in here!” Jared called back, and hearing the muttering coming from Danneel, Jared assumed she saw his point. “Why are you here, by the way?”

“Going onto a new shift at seven. I need coffee,” Jensen muttered, sipping his drink once more and stifling a yawn.

“Huh, sucks,” Jared said, ignoring the irony of that statement, given he’d been working for an hour already.

“Yeah. Still, I think Misha is going to be alright. Are you though?” Jensen asked, and Jared just shrugged.

“Dunno. It’s bugging me who wrote that note,” Jared muttered, then narrowed his eyes when he saw Jensen shift awkwardly. “Jensen?”

“It was Mike,” Jensen blurted out, looking just as shocked that he had said it, as Jared looked at the answer.

“What?! That fucker! I can’t believe him!”

“Jared—?”

“When you next see him, tell him I’m going to cut his balls off with a rusty spoon!” Jared growled, and Jensen looked at him in shock, before glancing past him to see Danneel cackling evilly in the doorway.

“That’s my boy! He’s learning from the best!”

* * *

“Misha, you gonna come home for Thanksgiving with me? I don’t think it would be wise for you to stay in the house with Jason and Chad,” Jared said, glancing over at Misha as the other man continued to type away on his laptop, sitting at Jared’s desk.

“I was going to stay here. I don’t want to intrude,” Misha murmured, still paying more attention to his computer screen.

“You won’t be intruding, Meesh. I swear, my mom loves you more than she does Jeff.”

“Not you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Who’d love anyone more than me? I’m loveable,” Jared said, laughing and ducking the pillow that Misha threw at him.

“Yes, you’re lovely,” Misha muttered, frowning and tapping at couple of times, before looking up from his laptop and tilting his head. “If you’re parents won’t mind, then I shall join you then. When are you leaving?”

“Wednesday. My mom’ll be pleased, the money for the plane ticket won’t go to waste now.”

“She got me a plane ticket?” Misha asked, nibbling on his lip and looking shocked.

“Yeah, to be fair, it was intended for Mike, but then he decided he wasn’t coming and then wrote that note. So yeah, the ticket is now yours,” Jared said with a shrug, and Misha smiled at him and nodded.

“Okay. Tell her thank you.”

“Meesh, tell her yourself. Make sure you tell Richard that you’re leaving for a few days over Thanksgiving.”

“I will. You’re worse than _my_ mother,” Misha said, amused.

“Just reminding you!” Jared exclaimed, shifting on his bed and opening his drawer to grab some twizzlers. “Do you think they’re still prowling outside?”

“Probably.”

“Balls. This sucks.”

“Yep.”

“What major are you doing now, by the way? Haven’t had time to ask with all the… screaming,” Jared said, looking over at Misha, who grinned at him.

“Philosophy.”

“Philosophy? Why?”

“Mike was talking about it a few weeks ago, sounded more interesting that psychology. Besides, I’ve lived with crazy, after this year, I don’t want to work with crazy too,” Misha muttered with an exaggerated shudder. Jared snickered and threw a twizzler at Misha.

“I can understand that. Philosophy though?”

“Apparently it wasn’t that hard to change from one to the other. So yeah, philosophy.”

“Huh, to each their own I guess. How’s it going?”

“I’ve only had one class, but so far, it’s going all right. Very interesting,” Misha told him, and Jared snickered, silently wondering how long Misha would stick with this one. “I think I may actually stick with this one for the duration of our degree.”

“Stop reading my mind.”


	5. Chapter 5

Note Nine

_’Milo, you might be wondering what that horrendous smell throughout the whole apartment is. Do you remember before you went out, you put some eggs on to boil? Obviously not! As after what had been seven hours on the boil, they naturally exploded! I had to not only clean up the mess, but we also have to put up with the smell until it goes! Sort yourself out, it could have been really dangerous. I know you have got a lot on your mind, but there are other people living here! – Jason.’_

Jared and Misha had both crept into the apartment upon their return from Jared’s family home on the Tuesday afterwards, breathing sighs of relief when they realised that either no one was home, or, if they were, they were asleep still. But that reprieve didn’t last long, and soon they were back to being glared at by Jason and ignored by Milo, though Misha pointed out that that was possibly because Milo became more and more scatty the more stressed he got. The only one that really wasn’t treating them any different was Chad.

Still, six days after they had returned and Jared was considering accepting the jail sentence he would get from killing Jason and Mike. He was pretty certain that Misha would visit him, and that no one would leave him pithy notes in his jail cell. Jared and Misha had taken to spending all their time in one another’s rooms, work or in class. But Jared honestly didn’t want to spend any more time locked in his own room that day, so decided to see if Misha had any way of getting them a change of scenery.

“When do you next have work?” Jared asked, making sure to keep his voice low, just in case someone was in the house. He really didn’t want to have to put up with anyone.

“Er… Tonight? If not, then we can hide out there anyway,” Misha said with a sheepish grin, making Jared snort.

“One day you’re going to be organised and the whole world is going to die of shock,” Jared muttered, and Misha huffed.

“Who wants to be organised? It’s boring. Will you be coming with me tonight or not? Fair warning, the sploshing room has been turned into a scarfing room for tonight,” Misha told Jared, grinning when Jared made a wounded noise, before Jared shifted on his desk chair, spinning it round so he could face Misha properly.

“One, leave my candy stash alone. Or contribute to it at least. I need sugar. You think all of me runs on just food? Please. And two, why isn’t the scarfing being done in the BDSM room like normal?” Jared asked, leaning over and snatching the bag of gummi bears out of Misha’s hands.

“You should share. Terrible thing not to do, Jared. And in answer to your question, someone booked a private session in the BDSM room with Lacey, and well, the sploshing room was the only one Richard could think of doing without so we could still do scarfing tonight,” Misha explained, and Jared had the random passing thought that his conversations had never been normal since meeting Misha. Though he really wasn’t complaining.

“Think Richard will bring me out some food?” Jared asked after sitting in silence for a few minutes, and Misha snickered.

“I think he might if you ask him nicely. Or offer him sexual favours.”

“They aren’t the same thing?” Jared asked with mock surprise, dodging the chocolate kisses Misha threw at him.

“Actually, you do have a point. When are you next being called into Dachau?”

“I thought we lived in Dachau?”

“No, this is Auschwitz. So? When are you next in work?”

“Tomorrow morning. Ugh! Five thirty open. I think Danneel hates me,” Jared groaned, turning his chair so that he could drop his head onto the desk next to him.

“And you still want to come into Asylum with me tonight?”

“I figure I’ll just stay awake. Go straight from Asylum to Sol,” Jared admitted with a shrug, ignoring Misha’s wide-eyed stare.

“Then we should nap! Come! Join me in a puppy pile!” Misha exclaimed, patting the side of the bed and making Jared glance at the bag of gummi bears suspiciously. “I didn’t drug them, but I’m sticking with you all night, so we might as well sleep now.”

“Classes?”

“Meh.”

* * *

“So… things are no better then?” Richard asked, pushing a bottle into Jared’s hands, and then turning to look at Misha, who was futilely trying to stab his cherry with his cocktail stick.

“No. Fuck ‘em. They can burn,” Misha muttered into his glass, while Jared snorted and shook his head.

“Okay…” Richard said slowly, turning his attention back to Jared with a raised eyebrow. Jared just shrugged and took a sip of his drink.

“So… can I get some strawberries?” Jared asked, making Richard leer at him playfully.

“Can I get something from you in return?” Richard asked, slowly trailing his gaze up Jared’s body. Proof of just how often he did this was that Jared didn’t even blink. Misha had claimed, previously, that The Asylum had ruined innocent little Jared. Jared didn’t feel inclined to actually care though.

“What would you be asking for? I mean, all I want is strawberries,” Jared pointed out, and Richard didn’t even bat an eye as his grin grew, though Misha did shift and look at them in interest.

“Ah but these strawberries are out of season, which means that I have to shell out quite the pretty penny in order to actually stock them. So, I think that means that I can ask for more than I normally would if they _were_ in season. You see?’ Richard pointed out, and Jared snickered and shook his head.

“Fine, so what is it that you want?” Jared asked, wondering if Richard would actually get around to telling him what the price of out of season strawberries would be _before_ the strawberries actually came into season.

“Hmm… what could I make Mr Padalecki do for some strawberries?”

“Think we could throw some chocolate in?” Jared interrupted quickly, and Richard threw his head back and started laughing.

“Ah, Jared. You never fail to amuse me. Not many barter with the owner of a sex club for some strawberries and chocolate. I’ll go get you some chocolate and strawberries,” Richard told him, still chuckling and shaking his head.

“For nothing?” Jared asked, shock colouring his voice.

“You made him laugh,” Misha pointed out, making a small triumphant noise when he finally managed to actually spear the cherry.

“Not the hardest of achievements,” Jared pointed out, and then turned to look at Richard questioningly.

“Fine, you got me, so if I get this for you, I get to ask a favour of you at a later date,” Richard said, hopping up to slide over the bar and dropping to the other side, next to Jared.

“What favour?” Jared asked, narrowing his eyes and making Richard stop mid step and turn fully to face Jared. Well, look up and face Jared.

“Ah, that will depend on when I call it in. So, wanna risk it for some strawberries? They _are_ delicious,” Richard tempted with a wicked grin, and Jared was actually tempted. He really wanted some strawberries. And somehow Richard always managed to find the juiciest ones. Even out of season.

“No sex favours. I refuse to be a gimp or something,” Jared stated, and Misha giggled into his drink, waving to the bartender (who Jared was almost certain was called Ashley) for a refill.

“So boring. Misha, you need to work on your boy. But fine, I won’t ask you to be a gimp. You’re far too tall anyway. Who wants to sensually torture someone that could beat the ever loving crap out of them… or just turn around and stand on them?” Richard pointed out, smirking at Jared’s pout. Though Jared honestly wasn’t sure why he was sulking as he _really_ didn’t want to be a gimp.

“'Sensually torture'? That’s an oxymoron I’ve never heard before.”

“All the best sexual indulgences are oxymoron’s. True fact, that,” Richard said, before he glanced at Misha and raised his eyebrow. “How drunk are you intending on getting?”

“How drunk can I get before you start to charge me?” Misha commented, stirring his luminous yellow drink with his finger, before he pulled it out and sucked on it, staring at Richard with wide eyes.

“You’re not paying?! Since when?” Richard asked, and Jared snickered into his coke (he’d decided it wasn’t worth losing a testicle over, turning up for work in four hours time, completely drunk.)

“Since Aston just kept giving me whatever I asked for but didn’t take any money. Or maybe since you hired me. I don’t know,” Misha said, and Jared glanced over at the other bartender to see him grin at the glare Richard was sending him. Jared was personally impressed that he’d managed to at least remember the first two letters of the guy’s name. Anyone that knew him would agree that he was pretty shit at remembering people’s names.

“Fine, but from now on, you only get the drinks with the least popular alcohol.” Richard muttered, before turning his attention back to Jared. “So, do we have a deal?”

“No gimping of me?”

“Promise.”

“Fine. I really want those strawberries,” Jared muttered petulantly, and Richard chuckled and spun on his heel.

“I’ll go get them for you then. Oh, I’ve got some marshmallows that are possibly nearing the end of their sell by date, so you can have those too. Be right back. Keep an eye of Misha’s alcohol consumption while I’m away.”

“Oh don’t worry, I don’t want to have to carry him into work later on. Danneel will hurt us both,” Jared muttered, and Richard’s cackling could be heard over the music as he wandered to the back storerooms.

* * *

“How drunk is he? And have you slept at all?” Danneel asked, when Jared stumbled through the doors of the coffee shop, dumping Misha into the booth nearest the staff entrance.

“Er… honestly? You don’t want to know the answer to either of those,” Jared admitted, watching as Misha giggled and then slid to the side until he was slumped sideways in the booth.

“Give him a strong coffee. What are you rota’d down for today?” Danneel asked, setting up the huge coffee maker along the back wall. Jared, checked to make sure that Misha was still breathing, then pushed through the doors into the back.

“Erm, I’m on until noon, I think. Then Sandy is coming in to take over. You?” Jared asked as he walked through the other door to the staff area behind the counter.

“Three thirty. Gen’s coming in at ten, I think. If he chokes on his own vomit, you’re the one explaining the underage dead drunk to the paramedics,” Danneel informed Jared with a nod to Misha, before she slid over the counter and walked to unlock the doors and turn the open sign.

It wasn’t until Genevieve had arrived for her shift, checking Misha’s pulse as she passed at Jared’s request, that Danneel finally found the time to actually question Jared about why he hadn’t slept for over twenty hours and why Misha was sleeping in a booth in her shop.

“Mike’s note.”

“Still?” Danneel asked, and Jared just shrugged. Genevieve snickered behind them as she finished tying her apron and passed the two to take the order of the man that had just entered.

“Yeah, still. No new note means that the Unholy Trinity’s anger is still directed at me and Misha.”

“Aw, you know Chad or Milo are gonna fuck up sometime soon, don’t let it worry you. Just wait, you’ll get home and everyone in the apartment will have forgotten that you have a douchey best friend with a questionable sense of humour.”

“Maybe.”

“I’m always right, Jared. Now, go help Gen before that guy ends up with a scolding latte thrown in his face.”

* * *

Shockingly, Danneel was right. Not about Genevieve throwing a latte into a customer’s face, though it wouldn’t have been the first time. She was right about the apartment situation. Jared knew that something had happened in the place as soon as he hauled Misha out of the elevator at the end of their hallway. Of the four apartments on that floor, he was fairly certain that the rotten egg smell was coming from _theirs_. It was just a feeling he had.

“Jay, told you to lay off the burritos,” Misha muttered, gagging slightly and making Jared cringe and point Misha away from his body.

“Not me, Meesh, but thanks for that vote in confidence. I also think that we may no longer be in the firing line,” Jared muttered, not really wanting to, but steeling himself for it and directing himself and Misha (who started to struggle feebly the stronger the smell got) into the apartment. Even Jared, with his stomach of steel, nearly lost what he had eaten at Richard’s when the smell actually hit him full force.

“What _is_ that smell?” Misha groaned, trying to escape the smell by burying into Jared’s arm.

“Milo forgot about some eggs and apparently, after a certain amount of time, eggs explode,” came the answer when Chad walked out of the kitchen, a scarf wrapped over his face, which explained the muffled sound of his voice.

“Eggs explode?” Jared asked, torn between taking Misha to his bed and just leaving him to fend for himself so he could go look at the note.

“Apparently so. Dude, what the hell is wrong with him?” Chad asked, and Jared vaguely recalled the fact that Chad had never actually been sober enough to remember seeing Misha get this drunk. In fact, Jared was fairly certain that Misha had been drinking alcohol while Jared had been working. Though neither him nor Danneel actually found any proof of it.

“He’s a little… squiffy,” Jared admitted, deciding that Misha would find out if Jared abandoned him on the living room floor, and he would probably enlist Mike’s help in getting revenge. If Mike ever came out of hiding.

“Squiffy? You’ve already used that word, I refuse to pay you. And he’s more than squiffy,” Chad pointed out, just as Misha decided to prove Chad right by falling asleep standing, clinging to Jared’s shirt, snuffling slightly.

“This smell… how long has it been…” Jared trailed off, completely at a loss for once for words.

“Lingering? About eleven hours now. I think it might be getting stronger,” Chad said with a concerned frown and glance in the direction of the kitchen. “I’m just on my way out to stay at another friend’s house. Jason has already left and I think Milo may have forgotten where he actually lives. I’d suggest you two find somewhere to spend the rest of the day and night, too.”

“Richard!” Jared startled at Misha’s exclamation, causing Misha to lose his grip on Jared, and then yelp as he fell to the floor.

“What?”

“Richard. We should stay with Richard,” Misha’s voice was muffled by the fact that he hadn’t moved from where he had dropped.

“Is he sober now?”

“Does he look sober? Meesh, I don’t think Richard will let us stay with him.”

“Mike and Jensssss…” Misha then clearly decided to give up on Jensen’s name and start pretending he was a snake. Or possibly Voldemort. Jared wasn’t entirely sure. He was thinking a snake though. Or Voldemort actually spent the last book crawling on the floor. Jared wouldn't know, he never got around to reading it.

“I’ll call Richard” Jared muttered, crouching down next to Misha and taking his phone out of his pocket.

“So you two are gonna be fine then?” Chad asked them, slowly inching around them and heading back to the door.

“Yeah, we should be.”

“Right, see you tomorrow possibly then. Try not to let him choke on his own vomit or something,” Chad muttered, before he left the apartment, door closing behind him with a soft bang.

* * *

Richard had laughed. Which really didn’t surprise Jared. He’d also agreed that he and Misha could have the spare room in his own place, which also didn't surprise Jared, though it pleased him greatly.

What did surprise Jared however, was that Richard apparently had a business partner, who also lived in the same house as Richard. And who intimidated Jared more than Danneel, which really was saying something.

“Christ, who’s the gigantor? And what the bloody hell happened to Misha?” was the greeting Jared was given upon following Richard into the rather opulent house. Though he wasn’t all that surprised about _that_ either.

“Mark, meet Jared, Misha’s… best friend. Jared, that’s Mark, my business partner and creepy villainous cockney,” Richard introduced cheerfully, walking around Jared to help him prop Misha up. Misha having once again fallen asleep.

“Um… hi? Sorry, I didn’t realise Richard had a partner,” Jared said, yawning the last word as he realised he’d been awake for far too long now and really just wanted to take a leaf out of Misha’s book.

“Nah, s’okay. Dickie never mentions me. I’m what you’d call a silent partner. I front the Dreaded Fairies nightclub on the other side of town. You should come some time. Seeing as I’m assuming you’re the friend of Misha’s that practically lives at The Asylum?” Mark said, standing up properly so that Jared could see he wasn’t really that much taller than Richard. Nor was he dressed that much differently. They were both wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and Jared realised that he’d never actually seen Richard in anything other than suits before this.

“Um… might take you up on that offer. Richard and my boss might start charging us rent if we don’t stop going there. Erm… is it okay if we go crash? We’ve kinda, sorta been awake for almost thirty hours,” Jared asked, yawning once more to get his point across. Mark just grinned and waved him away.

“Sure, Dickie’ll show you the spare rooms. Make yourselves at home. If neither of us are in when you wake up, there’s food in the kitchen. Night,” Mark said, walking past them to where Jared assumed was the kitchen, while Richard glanced at him and smiled.

“I’ll show you to your rooms then. Come on, the beds are freshly made, and there’ll be strawberries in the fridge when you wake up.” Richard, Jared thought, was possibly the greatest person ever. Though that may just have been his fatigue speaking.

* * *

  


* * *

Note Ten

_’I lick my cheese!’_

Jared was almost certain that the bed he slept in at Richard’s was magical in some way. For one, it seemed to mould to his body and just made him feel like he was floating, and the other, more deciding factor, was that once he had woken up feeling highly refreshed (and only a little late for his classes) he’d realised that he’d slept straight through for almost eighteen hours and he was also ready to forgive Mike.

Okay, so maybe it didn’t have anything to do with a magical bed/mattress owned by Richard (though he wouldn’t put it past the man to actually own one), but was more to do with the fact that Jared _missed_ Mike. Though, the tub of strawberries left out for him to take to class put him in a better mood than anything else that day.

Of course, even though he may have decided to forgive Mike in his mind, didn’t mean Jared actually knew how to go about it, and so, by the time he was walking into Café Sol for his shift later that day, he hadn’t actually told anyone that he’d forgiven Mike. He’d had several texts from both Jensen and (shockingly enough) Danneel telling him that he really should forgive Mike, but he hadn’t found the time that day to tell them that he had. Plus, he really thought he should tell Mike of that small development first.

So, understandably, he was somewhat shocked when he walked into the coffee shop and saw Tom and Chris standing at the counter. Well, okay, he wasn’t all that shocked about seeing them there. He’d assumed that they were friends with Danneel, or at least knew her, through Jensen. What surprised him was that they practically pounced on him when he walked through the door. Which was actually a little amusing. Especially given Tom was still impeccably dressed, having clearly come over from his office or whatever newbie lawyers had.

“Er…” Jared glanced over the heads of Chris and Tom, to see Genevieve watching them in bemused amusement, and Danneel laughing as she took her apron off for the end of her shift. “Guys?”

“You have to forgive Mike. We’ll pay you, if you want. But you have to forgive him, Jared,” Tom finally said, while Chris stood next to him, nodding emphatically.

“Er…. Okay. Why?” Jared asked, though he only wanted to know why they cared, not why he actually should. Thankfully, it seemed they picked up on that.

"He's become unbearable! If I have to hear about how he's been abandoned by his 'sweet little Jaybee', then I'm gonna kill him. And, dude! I can't afford the extortionate fees that it would cost me to hire Tommy-boy to represent me!" Chris pleaded, and then, much to Jared's shock and Danneel's amusement (Tom just looked resigned), Chris threw himself to his knees in front of Jared and tugged on his shirt. "Please!"

"Er… okay, yeah, but… you think you could stand up? You're kinda making me uncomfortable," Jared admitted, discreetly trying to pry Chris' fingers from his shirt, and sighing in relief when Chris looked at him and then smiled widely.

"Awesome! Let's go talk to him then, shall we? We left him trying to drown himself in the shower while Jensen tried to tell him that he wouldn't resuscitate him if he succeeded," Chris said cheerfully. Jared looked at him with wide eyes and then looked at Danneel, who was laughing so hard she was leaning on the counter for support.

"I have work!" Jared sputtered, gaping when Danneel smirked at him in a way that made Jared's balls want to crawl into his body and never come out.

"Nah, go talk to Mike. Gen and I can cope without you until you get back. You have thirty minutes," Danneel told him, and Jared realised that no one would ever reach Danneel Harris' heights of evil.

"What? But—" Jared sighed when Danneel just looked at him with an unimpressed raised eyebrow. "Fine, I'll be back in thirty minutes."

"Finally! Come on before Jensen decides that he doesn't want Mike to live any longer and finds that Mike would be more useful as a cadaver or something," Tom told him, throwing an arm over Jared's shoulder and leading him out of the coffee shop. "Cheers, Danni! We'll bring him back in one piece!"

Jared left wondering what his life would have been like if he hadn't made friends with Mike all those years ago. Probably very dull, but normal at least.

* * *

_‘So do I!’_

"Jared! Jay! Jared! Where's Jared?" The man in question looked up from the dishwasher he was loading in the back kitchen when he heard Misha's frantic calls from the main shop floor. It was almost a week after he had finally forgiven Mike, and the man had become nothing if not a little clingy, which was why Jared was actually willingly hanging around at his job after he'd finished his shift. He was man enough to own up that he was hiding from Mike.

"Meesh?' Jared called out, walking through the kitchen doors to see Misha pacing in front of the counter, wringing his hands, hair looking even more hectic than usual. "What's happened?"

"Mike!" Misha exclaimed, practically tackling Jared to the ground as he threw himself at him, tugging on Jared's sleeve.

"What about him?"

"He came over earlier and well, I figured there was no harm in letting him in to wait for you to get back from work, but… well, you know there was another note this morning," Misha muttered, and Jared groaned and let his head fall back. He'd found the note in the fridge that morning before he had left for work, sending Misha a text to warn him that it had all started again because someone had eaten Chad's cheese.

"He responded, didn't he?" Jared asked, though not really expecting any answer but yes. He wasn't disappointed.

"He said he had to leave about thirty minutes ago. I thought nothing of it, until Chad came home five minutes later and started screaming about cheese sacrilege and how nothing was sacred in the world," Misha told him, and no matter how distressed Misha appeared to be on the matter, he clearly found some amusement in Chad's cheese crisis.

"I don't even want to know what Mike's note said," Jared muttered, glowering at the floor as he thought up ways to torture his oldest friend. "Right, I'm gonna go over to Mike's and have a word with him."

"Er… maybe you should wait and calm down a little. I've never considered studying law," Misha admitted, glancing at him warily.

"No, I'm good, Meesh. I won't kill him, I promise," Jared reassured, walking over to the counter where Sandy and Gen were making snowmen out of foam in boredom. "Hey, I'm gonna head off, I finished loading the washer in the back. See you tomorrow, yeah?'

"Sure thing, Jay. Thanks for staying behind!" Sandy called out to him, and Jared waved his hand absently over his shoulder as he left the café with Misha.

"You know you can still get arrested for maiming as well, right?" Misha told him anxiously, and Jared rolled his eyes.

"It'll be fine. You not coming with me?"

"I can't, got work in an hour. Gotta get ready for that and make a start on an essay as well," Misha muttered, throwing him one last look before huffing. "Don't kill or maim him, Jay. I'm not kidding."

"Relax, Meesh. I won't hurt him. I just need to talk to him. Come by before you go to work, yeah? I'll come in with you. Don't think I want to go back to the apartment without backup," Jared said with an easy grin, feeling a little better when Misha visibly cheered up and smiled widely at him.

"You just want to eat more of Richard's strawberries!"

"Well, that as well. See you in a little bit, yeah?"

"Sure thing, Jay."

* * *

Jared knocked on the door to Mike's house loudly, waiting for someone to let him in, and was actually a little surprised when Jensen answered, a matching shocked look on his face when he saw it was Jared.

"Jared! Er… what are you doing here?" Jensen asked, before apparently remembering his manners and stepping aside to let Jared in.

"Is Mike in?" Jared asked, trying not to let his annoyance leak out for Jensen to notice. Given the look Jensen shot him, he wasn't successful.

"What's he done now? Yeah, he's in the front room," Jensen added, closing the door behind Jared and then turning and leading the way to where he claimed Mike was.

Upon entering the room, Mike looked over the back of the sofa, and smiled widely when he saw Jared follow Jensen into the room, clearly not noticing the unimpressed and quite frankly, pissed expression on his face.

"Jaybee!" Mike exclaimed in glee, moving to jump over the sofa and fling himself at Jared, only to run full speed in the wall when Jared stepped out of the way. "Jay?"

"Mike, I forgave you for fucking with my housemates and getting involved in their petty little note war, but then you go and do it again?! What the fuck, Mike?" Jared asked, when Mike looked at him in confusion. The realisation of why Jared was there then materialised on Mike's face and he looked away, guiltily. "Well? You got anything to add?"

"Er…" Mike rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly at Jared, while Jensen groaned quietly to the side and shook his head and defeat.

"Right, here's the deal, Mike. You don't come over to my place anymore," Jared said, and Mike gaped at him, both ignoring the maniacal giggling coming from Jensen in the background.

"What? Why?! Jaybee!" Mike exclaimed, but Jared remained unmoved and just crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow.

"You think I trust you in my place now? No way, Mike! If you ever feel a need to come over to mine, then you have to bring a chaperone. Jensen, Chris or Tom. If none of them are with you, then you aren't coming in and you can sit in the hallway," Jared told him, refusing to glance in Jensen's direction to see what his reaction to that stipulation was and point blank refusing to admit even to himself that he may have an ulterior motive to getting Jensen in his apartment.

"Jay!"

"No! I've had it up to here, Michael!" Jared hissed, and Mike flinched at the use of his full name, before he deflated and dropped his head to look at his feet.

"Fine. Sorry, Jared," Mike muttered, and Jared sighed, rolled his eyes, and then placed a hand on Mike's shoulder.

"Good, so why were you at my place earlier anyway?" Jared asked, moving to take a seat on the sofa, Mike sitting next to him. Jensen took the recliner opposite the sofa, still looking at the two on the sofa in barely restrained amusement.

"I just wanted to see you!" Mike said innocently, which, to be completely fair, Jared would have believed had Mike _not_ gone for the sweetness and light route.

"Uh huh, real reason? And do be quick, Meesh is coming soon so we can head to his work," Jared said, looking at Mike flatly, and barely holding back the smirk when Mike fidgeted.

"I thought I'd go see how things were going in the house. See if any new notes had shown up," Mike finally admitted, looking down at his hands guiltily, though Jared wasn't moved at all given Mike was grinning like a fool.

"Well, apparently there was, and you couldn't keep out of it if your life depended on it, Fucker," Jared muttered, then groaned and slumped down into the sofa, closing his eyes in defeat. "You're a terrible, terrible friend and you have made Chad look like an upstanding gentleman."

"Jared! Don't say such things! What would Mama P say if she heard her baby boy spouting such horrible, horrible lies?! You should be ashamed!" Mike exclaimed, but Jared was thankfully saved by the sound of knocking on the door, and jumped to stand up off the sofa.

"That'll be Meesh. Nice seeing you again, Jensen. Mike, you're a jerk. Remember the new rules, you're not allowed at my place unless you have Jensen or someone with you," Jared told Mike as he walked to the front door, followed closely by a chuckling Jensen and pouting Mike.

Jared opened the door as soon as he reached it and smirked when he saw Misha looking a tad disgruntled, wearing tight leather trousers, a loose white shirt untucked and a collar. The collar was what clued Jared in to why Misha was looking pissed.

"Get a new one?" Jared asked, ignoring the sputtered choking coming behind him from Mike. He moved closer to Misha to look at the collar, hmming his approval and trailing a finger over it. It was a solid silver metal that fastened somehow at the side and was curved to rest comfortably against Misha's skin.

"Yes, and dammit, I can't get the damned thing back off again! Oh, and don't you smirk, Mark has decided he likes you and got Richard to get you one as well. Looks like your now the Subby Sub of Mr. Sheppard," Misha said with a wide grin, which grew when Mike whimpered behind Jared and Jensen choked a little with Misha's unveiling of a thin square blue velvet box for Jared.

"What?" Jared asked, warily taking the box like it would bite him, not even contemplating explaining any of this to the two behind him. "Can he do that?"

"What, own you? Sure, technically Richard owned you beforehand, but he handed you over to Mark. Relax, Mark will treat you well!" Misha said, cackling at Jared's dumbfound look. "Put the damned collar on, we have to vamoosh if we wanna get there on time. I'm sure Mark will give you some damned fruit."

"Fine," Jared muttered, before sighing, opening the box and pulling out a collar very similar to Misha's, but a little thicker and with a red tint to it. "What is it?"

"A collar."

"I know that, dickwad. I meant the metal," Jared said with a scowl, gently opening the latch with his thumb nail and then placing it around his neck. He ignored the wheeze of shock behind him, though he had no idea who it came from.

"Oh! Not a clue. Ask Mark. Richard said mine was white gold. Nine carat, as he claimed he loved me, but I was too damned clumsy to deserve eighteen carat," Misha admitted with a completely unapologetic grin.

"Right, we'd better get going then. Jensen, Mike, remember the deal!" Jared said, turning to face the two stunned men, who looked like they may have short-circuited their brains or something.

"Will do… yeah. Er… Jared! Where the hell does Misha work?!" Mike called after them, only to shout wordlessly in frustration and anger when Jared and Misha just waved absently over their shoulders.

"Mark owns me? Er… why?" Jared asked, ignoring Mike's angry yells for them to come back and explain themselves fading into the background as they quickly made their way in the direction of The Asylum.

"Told you, he likes you apparently. Who knows? Relax, you know it's just to keep you safe and molestation-free while you hang out with me there. Same with all the employee collars. He doesn't actually want you to be his submissive, you know?" Misha told him calmly, and Jared let out the breath of air that he hadn't realised he had been holding in.

"Oh, right, that's cool then. I mean, from what little I know of the guy, he seems cool, but I don't actually want to sleep with him, you know?" Jared muttered, shrugging a little and tugging on the new collar he was wearing. "And did you have to come to Mike's dressed up? You don't normally put the collar on until you get to work."

"Oh, I know… Had to get Mike back for Notegate somehow, didn't I?" Misha exclaimed with a downright evil smirk, and Jared gaped for all of a second before bursting into raucous laughter.


	6. Chapter 6

Note Eleven

_'Whatever you do, never let  
the bailiffs in!' ~ Chad'_

Jared was exhausted as he walked into his apartment after getting back from his last lecture of the day. It had ended an hour early, which he was grateful for and also meant that he could relax earlier than he'd planned.

Of course, that plan was thrown completely out of the window when he found the note that Chad had left, and consequently spent the following couple of minutes cursing loudly and imaginatively as he realised what that meant.

Fumbling in his pockets for his phone, Jared quickly dialled Misha's number and hoped he would answer, because he actually had no idea where the man was. Luckily Misha answered almost straightaway.

"Meesh?"

" _Jared? What's up? Everything okay?_ " Misha asked, immediately sounding concerned at hearing Jared, and Jared huffed, glancing at the note in his hands.

"No, things are fucked. New note, Misha. And this one affects us all. I need to call the others, think you could try and get a hold of Milo and Jason, whilst I ring Chad?" Jared asked, impressing himself by not cursing immediately after spitting Chad's name out.

" _The note was from Chad then? Right, I'll ring Jason, I've just passed Milo in the library, so I can go grab him now. Apartment meeting, I'm assuming?_ " Misha commented lightly, and Jared groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in hopes to stave off the approaching headache he could feel.

"Yeah, emergency meeting, get here as soon as possible, okay?" Jared said, hanging up as soon as he got an affirmative from Misha. He then stood there and stared at the phone in his hand for a few minutes, trying to calm himself down before he rang Chad.

After taking a deep breath, Jared dialled Chad's number and waited for him to answer, gritting his teeth more and more the longer the phone went unanswered. His teeth were in danger of shattering by the time Chad finally answered.

" _Jay! Before you say anything, let me explain!_ Chad exclaimed as soon as he answered, and Jared growled lowly, glaring at the wall in front of him.

"Save it, Chad. I'm ringing to tell you to get over here now, the others are on their way as well, so you can explain it to all of us. Now, Chad." Jared hissed, making an effort not to break his phone in his anger.

" _Dude! I can totally explain--_ "

"And you will, to all of us! Chad, I'm not kidding, I'll get Mike to hunt you down if you don't get here in the next thirty minutes. You know I will. You want Mike on your trail? Really, Chad? He might bring Jensen, who has access to all sorts of drugs to torture you with!" Jared threatened, and had the great pleasure of complete silence on Chad's end for a few seconds as he contemplated this.

" _I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Jay, don't send Mike after me! He's insane!_ " Chad pleaded, and Jared thought it was a little hypocritical of him to call Mike insane, given how mental Chad was at times.

"You do that, fifteen minutes, Chad, or I ring Mike." Jared warned, before he hung up, dragged a hand through his hair, and then threw his phone on to the sofa. It was either the sofa, or into the wall.

Misha, Milo and Jason walked in the door ten minutes later, to find Jared pacing the living room, muttering under his breath and occasionally shooting dark looks at his phone.

"Jay? What's happened? What did the note say?" Misha asked, walking cautiously towards Jared, whilst Milo and Jason moved past him and sat down on the sofa. Jared just silently handed the note over to Misha, then glanced at the clock. "What does that mean?!"

"That's what I want to know." Jared muttered, shooting another look at the clock as Misha handed the note over for the other two to read. "That's it, I gave him fifteen minutes."

"What the hell?!" Jason exclaimed, having read the note, whilst Jared dialled Mike's number. Just as Mike answered, however, Chad threw himself into the room, gasping.

"I'm here! Don't ring Mike!" Chad exclaimed, and Jared apologised to Mike before hanging up and turning to face Chad, who had paled a little upon seeing the phone in Jared's hands.

"Chad! What the hell does this note mean?! What have you done to make bailiffs come here?!" Jason asked, jumping from the couch to face Chad, who swallowed heavily and walked into face them all.

"Ah… see… You know how you guys gave me the money to pay the gas and electricity bills?" Chad asked them anxiously, and Jared felt his stomach drop as he could take a pretty good guess at what Chad was about to own up to.

"Chad, tell me you didn't." Misha muttered, moving to stand nearer to Jared and placing a hand around his wrist.

"I don't know, guys! I just… I dunno, I had the money in my wallet and forgot what it was for and well… yeah." Chad said, looking down at the ground.

"Why would they send bailiffs if we've only missed one payment though?" Milo asked quietly, and Chad visibly cringed back from them all slightly. "Chad?"

"Two months payments."

"Two months?! Chad, what the hell!" Jared exclaimed, making Misha tighten his grip around Jared's wrist. "What did they say then?"

"I don't know… I got a final, final notice letter thing today, saying legal action was to be taken against us." Chad admitted with a small shrug, and Jared groaned.

"Shit. So what are we gonna do?" Milo asked, nibbling his lip as he looked at them all.

"Not let the bailiffs in!" Chad said, before shutting up and backing up slightly when they all glared at him.

"I'm calling Mike." Jared muttered, holding up his phone once more, and making Chad jerk his head up to stare at him.

"What? Why?! No! I'm here, I got here on time! You promised you'd keep him out of it if I got here within the time limit, Jay! Come on, man! Don't ring him! He'll torture me!" Chad exclaimed, and for Milo, who had never actually met Mike, and Jason, who'd only met him briefly a couple of weeks previously, both were baffled by Chad's apparent fear of Jared's closest friend outside of Misha.

"He's best friends with Tom Welling! Tom's a damned lawyer, he can help us! Well… he's almost a lawyer… I think. I don't know! But he knows Mike, he knows law and best of all, he might know how to help get us out of the mess you got us in in the first place! So think I can ring Mike now?" Jared asked, barely containing his anger (and slight worry) as he glared at Chad, Misha having stepped over to where Jason and Milo were sitting, watching it all with wide eyes.

"Y-yeah, ring him then." Chad agreed weakly, moving to sit down on a chair. Jared nodded his head, dialled Mike's number once more, and then placed the phone on the coffeetable, on speakerphone, so they could all hear what Mike had to say.

In hindsight, Jared should probably have spoken to Mike privately first.

" _Jaybee! You ring, apologise and then hang up?! Don't turn into a creepy mouth-breather on me! Jensen will never wine and dine you if you're a pervy heavy phone breather! Hey! Wha-_ " Jared and his housemates all stared at the phone as the sound of scuffling could be heard, with the occasional yelp or muffled curse, before it stopped and the sound of the phone being picked up could be heard instead.

" _Sorry, Jared. Ignore whatever the hell Mike said, yeah? You alright? What'd you need Mike for? He's a little tied up right now._ " Jared blinked at the sound of Jensen's voice, then snorted as he tried to imagine what Jensen had done to Mike.

"Hey, um… yeah, we er… we've had a bit of trouble over here and well… we were wondering if you could give us Tom's number so we could ask him something." Jared said, whilst Misha grinned at him for reasons only Misha knew.

" _Tom? Why'd you need Tom's number? What's happened? God, your housemate isn't In prison, is he?_ Jensen asked, and Jason snickered softly, whilst Chad looked affronted.

"Hey!"

"No, Chad's not in prison. I might soon have to be bailed out for murder though." Jared muttered, before sighing and looking at Misha.

"Jenny Bean!" Misha called out, making Jensen groan and curse at Mike just out of range of the phone's microphone. "We've got a bit of an issue with some bailiffs. Need to talk to someone with knowledge in law to see what we can do!"

" _Hi, Misha. Don't call me that. And how the hell have you managed to b threatened by bailiffs only four months into term?_ " Jensen exclaimed, and all four men shot Chad a glare, before Misha snorted and shook his head.

"Chad. So do you think Tom will be able to help us?" Misha asked, whilst Chad seemed to try to become one with the chair he was sitting on.

" _I dunno, but I think he might be able to. I'll give you his number so you can give him a ring. Ring us back once you've found out what you can do, yeah? Me and Mike wanna know that you're gonna be okay. Plus, I think Mike lives in fear of your mom, Jay._ " Jensen told him, before telling him Tom's number and hanging up.

"So, we call Tom and hope like hell that he can get us out of this mess then?" Jared asked, shooting a glare at Chad, before turning back to face the other three.

"Ring Tom." Jason agreed, and everyone else nodded, so Jared picked up the phone and dialled Tom's number, really hoping that he could help them.

* * *

Turned out he could, he told them what to do, who to contact and what to say. He then advised them to give someone else the task of paying the bills in future, which Jared fervently agreed that they would.

"Misha." Milo said, once Jared had hung up and Jason had taken down all the information so he could sort out the debt collectors.

"Huh?" Misha said, looking at Milo next to him in confusion.

"You should be the one to be in charge of the bills. Out of all of us, you're probably the most fiscally minded of all of us." Milo explained and Jared had to agree, even if Misha did come across as being almost as spastic as Jared himself did. The difference being Jared actually _was_ somewhat dense, Misha put it on to put people off guard.

"Yeah, I'm down with that idea." Jared said, with Jason agreeing at the same time. They all looked to Misha, not one of them particularly caring what Chad thought of things right at that moment.

"Fine, fine. How about I set up a separate account that I'll give you guys the numbers for so you can put the money in, and then I'll set it up so the bills are paid from that. Sound good?" Misha asked them.

"See, this is why we think you would be a good idea. Why did we decide on Chad again?" Milo asked, and Chad looked just as stumped as everyone else on the answer for that.

* * *

  


* * *

Note Twelve

_Jesus loves you! Even if you are  
a douche_

Midterms were normally seen as a stressful time for all involved, and Jared was normally in agreement with those that found them stressful (Mike was particularly amusing during midterms), but this year, he was in agreement with Misha (who, not all that surprisingly didn't appear stressed ever… unless confronted with memo-taking stationery). This year was by far less stressful than the year previous, which was surprising given he'd decided to take English Language as a major _as well as_ English Literature (though only because he couldn't decide which to major in).

The reason for the lessening of stress? They had experienced two blissful weeks of no notes. Nothing. No bitchy post its. No snide notes. Nothing. Nada. Well, nothing with regards to making everyone else as miserable as the note-writer was upon finding a dirty sock nesting in the fridge (Jared chose not to ask). It was actually quite nice to realise that the note left on the kitchen counter wasn't about something skeevy, but actually about the cardio-vascular system or something.

So even though Jared was a little stressed about his midterm exams, he was also basking in a blissful note free fortnight. Which was why he should have _known_ it wouldn't last until after the holidays. Karma didn't like any of them that much. Jared was of the opinion that it was because they all hung around with people like Chad and Mike. Though he was fairly certain Jensen's karma was fine… so maybe it was just Chad.

However, even Jared (who, although his family was religious in the sense that they knew the general premise of God, Jesus and the likes, they didn't actually care) had to admit the note from Jason to Chad was a little… mean. Amusing as hell, but still mean. And as shocking as it was, Chad actually came from a fairly religious family. Being told that the guy he worshipped, or whatever Christians did for Jesus, thought you were a dick… wasn't nice.

Which was why he and Misha had shown up on Mike's doorstep with their bags, and pleaded to be allowed to sleep on their couch for the three days until the end of term and they could go home. Jared reminded Mike that he could put a good word in with his mother and get her to serve Mike extra servings when he came over for Christmas dinner. And so, there they were, himself, Misha, Jensen and Mike, drunk off their heads the night before they had to leave for wherever they would be going for Christmas.

And why they were all staring at the train wreck of Jensen Ackles drunk as a skunk, giggling to himself then stopping and blinking at Jared and Misha blearily.

"I like you, Mishaaaa." Jensen mumbled, elongating the end of Misha's name comically, and making Mike snort behind his beer.

"Er... I like you too, Jensen." Misha said, throwing a bemused look to Jared, who just shrugged from where he was leaning heavily on the arm of the couch, legs thrown across Misha's lap.

"Yeah… I like you, Misha. But I really hate that I like you." Jensen said, making Jared blink in shock, whilst Jensen sighed and downed another shot of whatever the hell was in the bottle he had been clinging to. Jared was actually getting concerned that they would have to get Jensen's stomach pumped.

"Jenny Bean… I think you might have had enough to drink." Mike said, whilst Jared and Misha just carried on staring at the inebriated man in shock.

"No, no. I just… you're really awesome, Misha, but well… you've got Jared in your awesomeness and so I can't have Jared, because well, I'm not all that awesome and I'm kinda neurotic. And I think I might be something of a hypochondriac after reading about different illnesses and diseases for almost five years. And I also generally tend to hang out with the same five people." Jensen said, downing the rest of the mystery liquid in the bottle and then blinking blearily at Misha and smiling at him. "But you're cool. And have really blue eyes."

"Um… Jensen, Jared and I—" Misha stopped in his explanation when Jensen just blinked at him, then collapsed forward. It was only when, seconds later he began to snore, that they realised he hadn’t actually died.

"Well shit." Jared muttered, succinctly summing the whole episode up in a couple of words.

"At least you know he's interested." Mike pointed out, pouring both Jared and Misha a shot of, what Jared thought was possibly tequila, but only because he swore Richard gave it to him on a regular basis. He then poured his own and knocked it back.

"He's also of the belief that Misha and I are screwing. I think that might stand in the way of any plans I have of getting into his pants." Jared pointed out, wondering why the hell alcohol never seemed to have much affect on him and cursing his freakishly tall genes. He'd really like to be drunk round about now.

* * *

By the time Jared woke up the next morning (well, afternoon, but who was looking?) Jensen had left to head home for Christmas, as had Misha, leaving a post it note stuck to Jared's forehead telling him to ring him when he'd gotten to his home.

Jared had then spent the next hour and a half with Mike waiting for their plane to be called. He was actually grateful when the plane took off, even with the cramped leg room and Mike's rummaging through his carry on bag.

"Mike, what are you doing?" Jared asked, when Mike kept nudging him twenty minutes after take off.

"Here." Mika handed over a slip of paper with a number on it, which Jared stared at for a few seconds before turning to look at Mike questioningly.

"What's this?"

"A number."

"Yep, surprisingly, I got that. Who's number?" Jared asked, looking back at the number in confusion.

"Jensen's. Clear this up and set him straight before we get back, okay? You haven't met Jenny when he's maudlin and embarrassed. We will all thank you for not making him go through that." Mike told him, and Jared gaped at his friend before turning his attention back to Jensen's number and staring at it like it was the Holy Grail.

Which it possibly was.


	7. Interlude One

Interlude 1

«The Martians have inhabited the stove grease!» – _Jared_  
«Well, don't make them angry, I hear they're vicious when angry.» – _Jensen_

Jared did indeed text Jensen before they got back. It was just a shame he was drunk, somewhat high and couldn't remember a thing about it until he read the slightly bemused response from Jensen and wonder what the hell was vicious when they're angry and what the hell he'd sent to Jensen to get that response.

Mike was woken up by Jared's groan moments later once Jared had found the original message he had sent to Jensen and felt the urge to beat himself into blissful unconsciousness with his phone.

"Jay? S'up?" Mike muttered, groaning when he moved to look at Jared lying on the floor next to his bed.

"Apparently I sent Jensen a text last night." Jared muttered, groaning as he slammed his phone against his forehead.

"Oh. I remember that. Something about Martians." Mike mumbled, and Jared sat up, wincing at the headache that brought about, and gaped at Mike.

"You knew? You _knew_ and you didn't stop me?! What kind of friend are you?" Jared asked, well aware that he was whining as he clenched his phone in his hands.

"He reply?"

"Yes." Jared answered slowly, warily eyeing Mike when he sat up and grinned at him. "Why?"

"What did he reply? And did you actually tell him who it was? Have you actually texted him yet?" Mike asked, and Jared could feel his cheeks start to burn as he realised that he hadn't contacted Jensen before this and thus the poor guy probably had no idea who it was from.

"No… does that mean I can change my number and Jensen never need know that my stove grease is invaded by Martians?" Jared asked, looking at Mike hopefully, though he knew realistically that the answer was no. Which sucked big time.

"Well… you could, but it would be awkward to explain to everyone why you'd changed your number. Besides, the Martians were a valid concern last night." Mike pointed out, and Jared wondered if the weed they had smoked was possibly rancid. Because there were damned Martians in the stove last night.

"We're insane, you know that, right? And Jensen is now going to realise that I'm just as mental as you are. I have lost all chances with him!" Jared wailed, flopping back to the floor and wincing at the impact.

"Seeing as he still thinks you and Misha are fucking, then I don't really see how you stood a chance with him in the first place. You need to tell him. Both that the Martians have left _and_ that you and Misha just have a freakishly close relationship." Mike told him, and Jared really hated when Mike made sense, especially when they were suffering from a hangover.

"Fine. I'll own up to it." Jared muttered, before groaning and getting out of his makeshift nest on Mike's floor. Might as well be dressed when he signed his own death warrant. Because he was going to die on embarrassment any time soon.

* * *

  
«Merry Christmas! Jay xx»  
«No more Martians?»  
«No…»  
«You back in SF for NYE?»  
«Yep. You?»  
«Wanna go for a drink when you get back?»   


Jared fully admitted that he may have made noises not unlike an exicted, spastic dolphin when Jensen replied to his text on Christmas Day. Then promptly blushed so heavily that his brother thought he was going to pass out. The fact it was brought on by a text message resulted in Jared fighting with Jeff over his phone for the next ten minutes, until their mother grabbed both their ears, separated them, then used Jared's distraction to grab his phone out of his hand.

"Who's Jensen?" Jared's mom asked, and Jared felt his blush come back to full force once more upon having the attention of all his family on him at his mother's question.

"Er…"

"Are you going to go out with him?" Jared really wished the ground would swallow him up already.

"Er…"

"I don't think you've ever mentioned him to me, honey." Jared could only be thankful that he'd come out to his family years ago. And that they had had years of being desensitised by Mike's general presence. Jared found having Mike in your life on a regular basis made even the most narrow-minded people accepting of anything after a while.

"He's Mike's housemate." Jared finally managed to get out, and he saw recognition wash over his mother's expression.

"Oh! Yes, I've spoken to him on occasion! He's lovely. You should bring him over during Easter break! We'd love to meet him face to face. Now, send a reply back asking when he wishes to meet up." Jared gaped and then glanced to the side to see a similar expression on Jeff's face when his mom passed his phone to him, before cheerfully walking out the room, humming.

"Er…"

"You've said that a lot, JT." Jared's dad pointed out, chuckling as he followed his wife into the kitchen.

"That was weird." Jared had to agree with his sisters statement on that. And then something hit him.

"When did mom speak to Jensen? _Why_ was she speaking to Jensen. And why did I not know about this?"


	8. Chapter 8

Note Thirteen

_'Could somebody explain why my door has magically come off it's hinges and is lying in the middle of my room?  
Very pissed off, can't even fucking get dressed or changed.' – Milo_

So Jared would admit that he was completely freaking out at the thought of going on a date (possibly, though the text _did_ only say drinks) with Jensen and he had no one to freak out at. Well, technically Chad and Jason were both back from their homes as well, but he refused to have a 'big gay freakout' in front of Chad again. It hadn't gone down well the first time he had.

Misha and Mike weren't going to be back until after the new year, but Jared had been coerced (conned/threatened) by Danneel into working the morning shift on New Years Day, which also meant that Jared either worked drunk or stayed sober for New Years celebrations. Neither sounded appealing, but he was thinking the former of the two sounded like the better option.

And the one more likely to get him killed by Danneel.

Still, that wasn't for another three days. Right now, Jared was in a bit of a fluster over what to wear for his first date (possibly) with Jensen. So far, he had jeans. But then again, maybe he should wear something other than jeans. But these jeans did make his ass look nicer than his other pair that weren't tattered wrecks. Now he just needed to find the right top.

Which wasn't going as well as planned and Jensen was coming to pick him up in thir-twenty minutes. Making a small whimper of panic, he grabbed a shirt (which wasn't pink, and thus surprised him a little), pulled it on, then quickly ran his fingers through his hair (because really, there wasn't actually anything more he could do for it) and grabbed his phone, keys and wallet before stumbling out of his bedroom door, straight into Chad.

"Dude! Where are you off looking like that? Did you actually finger comb your hair? Huh, must be someone damn hot for you to actually make an effort. So? Who is it?" Chad asked, making Jared feel an overwhelming urge to make an injured dog sound as he tried to brush Chad off and go to meet Jensen.

"Jensen Ackles." Jared told him, patting his pockets to check he had everything, even though he remembered grabbing what he would need (including his fake ID, thank you, Richard) and trying to pass Chad.

"Huh, he's hot. Why'd he agree to go out with you? Did you drug him?" Chad asked, making Jared throw a glare at him.

"No."

"Blackmail him, then?"

"No!"

"Ah, paid him. Jay! That's below you! You could do better than paying someone to screw you! I'm kinda ashamed to be your friend." Chad said, not noticing Jared bristle in annoyance.

"The feeling is mutual, Chad. And I didn't pay him either. Now stop bothering me, I've got to go." Jared growled, nudging Chad out the way and walking quickly to the door. "Don't wait up!"

"When do I ever, Padanerd? When do I ever!" Chad called back, just as the door shut behind Jared, and he hurried to the stairs to meet Jensen at the front of his apartment block. He wasn't going to actually force Jensen to meet him outside his own apartment, he still swore he could smell an after effect of egg.

No one should be forced to smell that. Their neighbours still glared at them whenever they passed.

* * *

He really shouldn't have been so surprised over how much he and Jensen had in common, but he kinda was. It did make things a heck of a lot easier though, and Jensen had told him that they could celebrate New Years on their own so that Jared wouldn’t be too wasted/exhausted for his shift the next morning. Which was awesome, but also could have possibly been Jensen's way of stopping Jared's slightly pathetic whining.

Now they were contentedly sitting in a booth in the bar they had ended up in after an impromptu (but appreciated) dinner at a small Mexican restaurant that Jensen had sworn by, generally just exchanging amusing stories. Jared had just finished telling Jensen about one time at The Asylum that Mark had made a rare appearance, and had promptly made everyone in the bar realise that he was one of the mean, snide Brits. He looked up from when he was gasping through his laughter at the memory of Mark bitching an overly toppy dom to tears and saw Jensen looking at him with an contemplative look on his face.

"What?" Jared asked, managing to calm down and wiping the tears that had gathered in the corner of his eyes.

"You'll have to take me to this place one day." Jensen told him, and Jared was thankful he hadn't taken a sip of his beer, as he was almost positive he would have choked on it. As it was, he just gaped at Jensen, who just smirked at him. "It was a nice collar."

"Um... you—" Jared cleared his throat and sputtered for a few moments before trying again. "Really?"

"Yep. Do you always wear it when you go with Misha?" Jensen asked, and Jared suddenly found himself wondering when it had gotten so warm in the bar.

"Er…" Jared floundered, then just shrugged, ignored the blush burning his cheeks and nodded. "Yeah. It's erm… it's safer to be owned in that kind of place if you're gonna be sitting alone for the majority of the night."

"Hmm… so you'd wear the collar with me? Or go without?" And Jared was almost positive that all blood vessels in his head exploded with the force of his blush.

* * *

Jared knocked on the door to Jensen and Mike's house, bag with some spare clothes in it by his feet (as well as his work uniform, Danneel would kill him if he showed up without it) and smiled widely when Jensen opened the door and stood back to let him inside.

"Hey, so looking forward to a boring New Years Eve?" Jared asked as he followed Jensen into the front room, dropping his bag by the side of the sofa and grinning when Jensen looked at him in amusement.

"Who said it was going to be boring?" Jensen asked, stepping up to Jared and reaching up to wrap a hand behind Jared's neck, he then gently tugged him down and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips.

"Um… nope, not boring then." Jared muttered when Jensen pulled back to smirk at him, making Jensen chuckle and tug Jared over to the couch, sitting down on it, and pulling Jared to sit down next to him. Jared kicked his shoes off and then got comfortable, curling up next to Jensen. "Definitely not going to be boring then?"

Jared looked over to Jensen with a smile when Jensen twisted his fingers into his hair and tugged gently, shifting closer, Jared was suddenly very happy that Danneel's favour (threat) had made him spend the night with Jensen instead of going out. Very happy indeed.

* * *

As much as he had loved the night before, and really, he did love it, he also really hated Danneel for thinking that people actually wanted coffee at seven in the morning on New Years Day. Really, who the hell wanted to even be conscious at this time in the morning after New Years Eve? Who? The answer was no one going by the complete lack of customers.

Groaning, Jared shifted where he was leaning heavily on the counter when the door was pushed open, and gaped when Jensen walked in, looking slightly ruffled and tired, but smiling gently.

"Hey. You look how I feel." Jensen muttered, grabbing a chair on his way over to the counter and placing it next to it and sitting down on it with a tired groan.

"What are you doing here? Why aren't you sleeping?" Jared asked, still blinking and gaping at Jensen in shock.

"I felt sorry for you." Jensen muttered, and Jared finally got over his shock of seeing Jensen, and quickly made him a cup of coffee. He snorted in amusement when Jensen practically dived on it, and then made a noise that immediately sent Jared's mind back to a few hours before. Blushing and coughing slightly, he grabbed a damp cloth and started to wipe the counter, cleaning it of non-existent mess in an attempt to stop him tackling Jensen to the floor.

"You should have stayed in bed." Jared pointed out, once he felt calmer and Jensen was no longer doing illicit things with a cup of coffee.

"I know. I no longer feel sorry for you. I feel sorry for me. You're getting paid. I actually have a day off." Jensen whimpered, practically hugging his mug, whining in the back of his throat when Jared pried it off of him, only calming when he realised Jared was just refilling it.

"You're working tomorrow, right?" Jared asked, moving back to lean on the counter once more. Really, there was no one in, and Danneel wasn't coming in until noon. He had hours to stare. Or, stare and talk in a 'not as creepy as just staring' way.

Jared took Jensen's muffled grunt as an affirmative and snickered, watching Jensen finish the second cup of coffee and taking it when he handed it over and promptly dropped his head down on to the counter.

"You should go back to bed. I finish at twelve when Danneel gets in. I'm gonna head over to my place to check that it's still standing, but mind if I come back over later?" Jared asked him, not entirely sure if he was beginning to come across as clingy. Though given he had to pry Jensen's arms from around his waist that morning, it would suggest he wasn't the only one that clung.

"Sounds good to me. I'm just gonna sleep here." Jensen murmured and Jared grinned and shook his head.

"Misha claims the booth nearest the staff entrance is the comfiest." Jared told him, chuckling when Jensen grunted, then sluggishly stood from the chair and stumbled his way over to the booth Jared had told him about.

Jared watched him move, then grabbed the mug Jensen had used, placed it in the sink and grabbed a new one to make Jensen another coffee. By the time he'd made the coffee and slid over the counter to take it to Jensen, the older man was snuffling, fast asleep in the booth. Jared quietly placed the mug on the table and then made his way back to behind the counter to finish the crossword he had been working on. Not very successfully, admittedly.

* * *

It was the sinking feeling of foreboding in his stomach that made him agree to Jensen's suggestion of not going back to his place until Misha was due back three days later. Which, admittedly, was a brilliant idea at the time, given a sleepy yet no longer grumpy Jensen was a very affectionate Jensen.

But, three days later, and Jared was standing in front of the door to his own apartment, having left Jensen getting ready for his shift at the hospital. And now he really couldn't force himself to open it and see the veritable warzone he might be welcomed with. Though, Milo should have come back the day before, so surely things weren't that bad anymore. Taking a deep breath, Jared opened the door and walked in, releasing the breath in relief when he noticed the front room looked intact.

It was only when he passed the board and noticed the new note that the foreboding feeling came back with full force. Reading it, Jared's eyes widened, then he hurried along the hallway to reach Milo's room at the end, cringing when he saw the door propped on the wall beside the entrance where it should have been attached.

Whimpering, Jared slowly backed away and entered Misha's room, closing the door behind him and taking his phone out his pocket. Dialling Jensen's number, he waited for him to answer, slumping with relief when he did after only a couple of rings.

" _Jay? You alright? The apartment_ is _still there right?_ " Jensen asked upon answering, making Jared feel a little better already. Which would probably worry him at the level of dependency he was beginning to develop. But the room opposite him was missing a door, he had other things to worry about.

"Yeah, the apartment is just about still standing. Thing is, er… think me and Meesh could stay at yours and Mike's for a bit longer?"

" _Sure… why?_ " Jensen asked, sounding both curious and slightly amused.

"New note."

" _Ah, I'll see you when I get back off work then. I'll leave the spare key under the doormat._ " Jensen told him, and Jared thanked him profusely before hanging up and letting Jensen get back to more important things.

Like saving people lives and such.

Whilst he waited for Misha to tell him not to bother unpacking as they were, once more, moving over to Mike's place like the temporary refugees that they apparently were.

At least he'd be able to sleep in Jensen's bed. Always a positive side to things.

* * *

  


* * *

Note Fourteen

_'Make a Wish.'  
'I wish Milo would clean the fucking fridge' – Jason_

"What's that?" Jared asked Misha when the man walked into the kitchen and stuck a large star sticker on the fridge. Stepping away from where he had futilely been hoping stirring it would make the pasta cook quicker, he looked at the sticker then back to Misha (who was humming and staring at the wall) questioningly.

"It's a charity. The 'Make A Wish Foundation'. They make wishes of seriously ill children come true. Though apparently, that's within reason. I don't know. I doubt they could give a small child with cancer that pet unicorn they've always wanted. But who knows? Anyway, look! It's a star! Brightens the place up a little, don't you think?" Misha asked him brightly, and Jared looked back at the sticker and nodded slowly.

"It does make the kitchen a little more…"

"Magical?"

"Not the word I was looking for, but let's stick with that." Jared agreed, not wanting to voice 'gay' out loud, even if both he and Misha were, in fact, gay. Well. Jared was, Misha was just easy. "So, do you work for this charity then?"

"Christ no! I just liked the sticker!" Misha told him, then walked out of the kitchen with Jared gaping at his back. The sound of hissing as his pasta boiled over pulled his attention back from the now closed kitchen door.

"I'm friends with a freak."

* * *

The next day, Jared walked into the kitchen to grab a bagel before heading out to his first class of the day and burst into laughter at the note stuck under the sticker Misha had put on the fridge the day before. Snickering to himself, he grabbed his phone and took a picture of it, sending it to Jensen, before shoving his phone back in his pocket and grabbing the bagel, deciding to get the hell out of Oz before the shit hit the fan via Milo. Still giggling, he threw one last glance to the note, and then left.

For once, the note left in the apartment was actually amusing. It was certainly rare when that happened.

He was half way to the campus when his phone vibrated in his pocket, pulling it out with a grin, he saw a reply from Jensen.

«How bad is the fridge that the ill kid in your apartment hopes MaWF will help him out. You should tell him that they can't work miracles.» Jared chuckled, and started to type out his reply.

«I don't know, I don't think I could break his heart like that. You wanna do it for me?»

«No chance. Make Misha do it. His sheer insanity might take attention away from the crappiness of the news being given! Or… make Milo clean the fridge.»

«What did you say about miracles?» Jared replied, looking up from his phone as he ran across the road to enter the campus grounds. For the first time that college year, he might actually get to English Language on time. Glancing at the clock on his phone, he beamed when he saw he was fifteen minutes early.

«Oh yeah, sorry. How bad is your fridge?»

«I found a mating pair of socks in there last week.»

«I wish I hadn't asked.»

«I know a number you can ring for that…» Jared chuckled as he hit send and then walked into the lecture theatre. He ignored the look of surprise his lecturer shot him as he made his way to the back of the room and sat down. He took his phone back out his pocket once he'd got comfy and opened the new text from Jensen.

«I'm not sick. Think they would grant it anyways if I told them what it was?»

«They may think that those living conditions could make you sick. Or at least, the mental images of said living conditions. They may endeavour to help you.» Jared replied, chuckling to himself. He then hastily shoved his phone into his bag when the door to the lecture theatre was shut with a bang, and Professor Eldridge moved to stand in the centre of the room.

Sighing and resigning himself to a long lecture of being growled at and ordered about the proper uses of the comma, Jared picked up his pen, poised over his notebook, ready for whatever the somewhat paranoid, but amusing man from somewhere in the north of England decided to teach them that day.

* * *

Due to having worked after he had got out of classes, and then had gone straight to The Asylum to meet with Misha, neither Jared or Misha had actually been back to their apartment since the note had been found.

Thus, walking in the doors sleepily at five in the morning, both thankful that they didn't have to be at work or classes early that day, they were greeted with the fallout of the note Jason had left.

"Chad?" Jared walked over to where the man in question was standing, pressed against the wall nearest the front door, watching as Jason and Milo screamed at one another about something Jared couldn’t actually make out. Misha, sticking close to Jared, followed him as he stood to lean next to the unusually silent Chad.

"Hey. I'm guessing you saw the note from yesterday?" Chad said in a quiet voice, not wishing to bring the attention of the screaming duo on to them.

"Yeah, I didn't think the sticker would actually bring about a note. Or that the note would bring about this." Misha whispered back, whilst Jared just watched Milo and Jason scream at one another, surely not actually hearing what the other was saying, because Jared certainly had no idea what either was saying.

"Yeah, well Milo retaliated." Chad muttered, and Jared managed to drag his eyes away from the shouting and look at Chad.

"How?" Jared asked warily, not entirely sure he wanted to know.

"Milo emptied the entire contents of the fridge onto Jason's bed, and then bleached the whole fridge. Misha, dude, your sticker was an unfortunate victim of crossfire." Chad told Misha with a mock sad look, whilst Misha made a strange whining noise in the back of his throat.

"I liked that sticker!" Misha whined, and Jared chuckled, shaking his head in amusement at his insane friend. "So what now? They're blocking the way to our rooms."

"I know, I've been standing here for over an hour now. I'm going over to Sophia's to get some sleep before I have biochem at one." Chad told them, shuffling quietly to the door, before turning back to look at them as he opened the door to leave. "I'd recommend hiding out at Mike's or wherever it is you go. You ain't gonna be getting any sleep here."

Jared and Misha watched in mournful silence as Chad's words hit home as the door slammed shut behind him. Turning to look at Misha, Jared wondered if he had the same resigned look on his face.

"Mike and Jensen's?" Misha asked, and Jared was about to agree until he realised there was a reason he had decided to go bother Misha at work instead of bother Jensen into his bedroom.

"Can't. Jensen's working and Mike is actually really busy with college for once. Shit." Jared muttered, flinching when he heard something crash into the wall behind them. "Do you think they're actually screwing? I mean, really only couples throw shit at one another in arguments, don't they?"

"You might be on to something there. Could explain the tension of this place too. Well, the notes explain that too, but well, Jason and Milo fucking is much more fun to speculate." Misha said with a nod, then sighed and wrinkled his nose in thought. "We could always ask Mark and Richard if we can stay with them again."

"Sounds like the best idea we've got." Jared agreed hastily, given his next proposal was to ask Danneel. Which would have been akin to asking Satan if they could hang out in one of his brimstone pits for a little while.

"Let's just hope Mark is feeling generous… maybe you should put on the collar he got you. Might make him feel more giving and willing to agree." Misha said, and Jared scowled at him, before grabbing his bag and shoving Misha out the door.

"It might also incline him towards molesting me." Jared muttered, shoving and pushing Misha out of the door and closing it behind him before either Milo or Jason noticed that they had had an audience.

"Don't be silly, Mark's not gay." Jared actually tripped over and almost took Misha down with him at that announcement, and then all that was heard was his cackling as they walked down the corridor, and Misha's confused questioning about Jared's amusement.

* * *

«Are you going to own up to Misha and Mike that you had two months and that you won the bet? Or do I get to keep all the winnings with regards to your friends' love life. Because I am down with either plan.» Jared snorted at the message Jensen had sent him when he'd texted Jensen to tell him he was staying at Richard and Marks. And the reason why. Chad staying at Sophia's had also been mentioned.

«Nope, not owning up. You can buy me dinner with your winnings.»

«You'll be lucky.» Jared snickered at Jensen's reply, and then, yawning, typed out his own response.

«You're such a charmer, Jen. I'm exhausted, gonna get some sleep. I'll talk to you in the morning?»

«It is morning, Jay, but sure thing. I'll speak to you later. Get some sleep. Night!» Jared smiled as he placed his phone under his pillow, and then fell to sleep pretty much straight away.


	9. Chapter 9

Note Fifteen

_'Chad,  
I cleaned the shower this afternoon while you were out and there was a distinct smell of piss, with some very difficult stains to remove.   
Have you been peeing in the shower? If you have, could you stop and use the toilet like the rest of us?  
\- Jason_

There were points in Jared's life when he wondered if there was such a thing as brain bleach, and if not, then if swallowing a whole bottle of normal bleach would have the same effect and erase certain memories from his mind.

Since the beginning of his second year of Higher Education, that thought had increased in frequency and desperation. February brought with it a new note and more pondering on the less talked about uses of bleach. It also brought a minor freak out over a certain event that happened in that month and what he was to do about it.

That freak out, however, was inadvertently solved the day before Valentine's Day, when his phone started to ring. Jared was confused to see Richard's name as the caller.

"Hello?"

" _Jared! How are you this fine and glorious morning!_ " Jared immediately felt his suspicion rise at Richard's cheerful greeting and couldn't help wondering what he was going to end up agreeing to. Because he knew he'd agree in the end. Richard had that effect on him.

"It's four in the afternoon, Richard," Jared pointed out, not actually wanting to ask what the favour was going to be and thus deciding to delay the inevitable.

" _Is it? Shit, I need to get the V and E room sorted out. The private party in there last night made a mess of it. Ejaculate all over the walls. It's like a giant tub of salty hand lotion has exploded—_ "

"Richard! Stop! Please! Wait… why would someone book a private session in the Voyeurism and Exhibitionism room? How is that voyeuristic _or_ exhibitionistic?" Jared cursed his brain to mouth filter at times.

" _Apparently it was the idea that they could be caught that they got off on._ "

"So why not have sex in a shop or the cinema or something?"

" _I wouldn't arrest them if they_ were _caught?_ " Richard said, not sounding entirely sure of it himself, which made Jared chuckle and then sigh.

"So what is the reason you're calling me?" Jared finally asked, deciding to just bite the bullet.

" _Are you busy tomorrow night? Misha told me about your hot piece of doctor ass. You should bring him to us. Mark and myself want to see if he's suitable for you._ " The thought of Mark and Richard interrogating Jensen to find out if he was 'suitable' was actually a highly disturbing one for Jared, then he realised what Richard had asked.

"Er… Actually, I'm not doing anything. Jensen has to work a shift at the hospital tomorrow night so we had decided to celebrate Valentine's Day on the fifteenth. Why did you want to know?" Jared asked, looking at his door when he saw Misha dart past with two large suit bags over his shoulders.

" _Ah good! Can you work as a doorman for me tomorrow night? My two normal guys had to call off. You'd be working with Mark and Aldis, a new guy I hired last week. Don't think you've met him yet,_ " Richard told him and Jared sighed.

"What's the catch?"

" _No catch! You'll be paid three hundred for the night,_ " Richard told him and Jared had to bite his tongue to keep from agreeing straight away.

"And I'd just have to stand on the door?" Jared asked suspiciously, before he realised something. "Which door?"

" _You'd be on the front. Don't worry, Jared!_ "

"Seriously, Richard, what is the catch? I know you, I know there's a catch," Jared said with a put-upon sigh.

" _Fine. So you'd possibly have to wear a costume of sorts. It's nothing bad! Just… well, you and Aldis will be slaves of Mark’s. Because, let's be serious here, Jared, Mark would not pass as a slave. Plus, he's British, he'd shoot my kneecaps for considering it if I asked._ " Jared couldn't deny that, Mark probably would. Sighing, he dragged his hand through his hair. Glancing back at his door, he frowned when he saw Misha looking around his own door into Jared's room, nibbling his lip anxiously.

"Four hundred."

" _Three fifty. And remember that you owe me a favour as well._ "

"Three hundred and fifty and I don't have to wear a gimp mask."

" _Deal! Misha has your costume. You're to be here an hour before opening. Come with Misha. You can get changed over here. Thank you for this, Jared!_ " And with that, Richard hung up, leaving Jared to gape at the phone in his hands.

"Misha!"

* * *

Jared wasn't amused. Jensen was highly amused, but Jared wasn't amused at all. He knew Misha was in on this somehow. Just _knew_ it. Why else would the man have had his costume with him before Jared had even agreed to it?

And 'costume' was used loosely. When Jensen had heard that Jared would be wearing a costume, he had told Jared that he and Misha had to come to their house before they left for Asylum so he could see what Jared would be wearing. Well, he had demanded that after he'd finished cackling down the phone.

He wasn't laughing now however. No, he was actually in danger of choking on his over saliva. Richard hadn't been kidding when he had said that Jared would be Mark's submissive for the night. Which was going to look amusing anyway, given Jared towered over the older man. But apparently, submissives didn't get to wear an awful lot when they were working as a doorman as well.

Jared's 'costume' for the night was a long pair of pinstripe trousers, with chains crossing over his legs in varying lengths, attaching to the opposite leg further down. He was also wearing a pair of boots that he actually thought might be class as a weapon, and had a four-inch wedge platform that made Jared ridiculously tall, and also included chains. Really, who wore chains on their shoes? Apparently, he did.

To complete it, he had to wear a loose black tie, which Jared saw no point in given he wasn't wearing a shirt, or a top at all. He had cuffs on that had a long chain attaching them together and to the centre of his trousers, along with a black leather collar with a D ring and a long chain leash attached to it. He was _not_ impressed with the leash. Though at least there wasn't a mask.

"Ja-Who-Wha-Jay?" Jared smirked a little at Jensen's stammered greeting upon seeing Jared when he opened the door to them. Jensen coughed, cleared his throat, then squeaked before shaking his head and silently motioning for them to walk inside. Behind him, Misha began to chuckle quietly into his hand, and the two walked into the house, passing Jensen who coughed when he saw what Misha was wearing. Which was actually less than Jared, if that was possible. The skin-tight leather trousers Misha was wearing had more holes in it than a sieve. And really left nothing to the imagination. At least Misha didn't have to wear cuffs.

"Jared, I hear you're going to work with Mi-whoa! Where in the hell are you working tonight?" Mike exclaimed, taking in the sight of Jared. His eyes widened when he saw Misha, who just smirked back at Mike. Jared wondered where Jensen was, when he realised the man hadn't followed them into the house. "Have you broken Jen?"

"I don't… Jensen? You alright?" Jared called out, looking behind him and down the hall to where they had seemingly left Jensen.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm… er… I'm fine. Be right in," Jensen called back, sounding a little strained and making Mike and Misha chuckle.

"Maybe I should go see if…" Jared trailed off, looking back towards the hallway in concern, then looking at an amused Misha.

"Sure, we don’t have to leave for a few minutes, go make sure Jensen hasn't choked on his own drool," Misha told him with an absent wave towards the hallway. Jared nodded at him and walked down the hallway back to where they'd left Jensen.

He snickered when he saw Jensen leaning against the wall, head in his hands as he clearly tried to calm himself before going back to the living room with the others.

"Jen? Should I applaud that you managed to shut the do-" Jared was cut off when he was pushed against the wall and found himself being kissed deeply by Jensen, a very handsy Jensen. Moaning into Jensen's mouth, Jared clung to the shirt Jensen was wearing and widened his legs slightly so that Jensen could press his leg between them, pressing their bodies closer together.

Jared had the passing thought that Richard would probably applaud Jared should he turn up with a very obvious wet patch at the front of his trousers, before it was wiped out of his mind by Jensen's hand wrapping around the leash and tugging it around to the back of Jared's neck, pulling Jared's neck and head back with it. His breathing hitched when Jensen licked his neck, before biting down hard on the flesh between Jared's neck and shoulder.

Jared's eyes fluttered shut when Jensen began to lick at the bite mark, slowly thrusting against him and making Jared's breathing become quicker and more laboured as he the collar partially cut off his airways. He could feel his orgasm building as Jensen's thrusting became more frantic and his breathing heavier against Jared's neck and ear. The thought that Misha and Mike could walk in and see them like this at any moment was the final straw and Jared came with a strangled gasp. He slumped back against the wall, jerking in an aftershock of pleasure when Jensen bit his neck once more and muffled his own shout of pleasure.

Breathing heavily and feeling like all of his limbs were made of lead, Jared forced his eyes to open and looked down when Jensen pulled back after placing a soft kiss to Jared's neck.

"You look like you have one hell of a master," Jensen told him breathlessly and Jared stared at him incomprehensibly for a few seconds, before he chuckled.

"Tell me about it. Want to take bets on what Richard's reaction to my debauched look will be?" Jared muttered, glancing down between them to the slight damp patch on his trousers, and wanting to breathe a small sigh of relief when he noticed it wasn't too noticeable.

"Pay rise," Jensen muttered with a snicker, before moving to nuzzle his nose against Jared's neck, rubbing the now tender skin under his collar and shifting to press a kiss to it.

"Jen. We're gonna have to move, me and Misha will have to leave soon and I want to at least look a little presentable," Jared whispered, not really making any effort beyond that to move Jensen. His excuse was that he was cold and Jensen was warm and cuddly. He wasn't entirely sure Mark would appreciate being cuddled later on that night though.

"True. Well, about the moving. I don't want you to look presentable though," Jensen murmured, voice muffled against Jared's neck. Jared chuckled deeply, then gasped softly when Jensen rang a hand through his hair, making Jared look even more debauched than he had before.

"Jared! Jared we need to go-oh. We can go in a minute." Jared looked to the side to see Misha looking at them and smiling widely with a wicked gleam in his eyes. Huffing a sigh, Jared nudged at Jensen, grinning when he got a whine from the man but managed to move him.

"No, I'm ready. Jensen's got work soon too anyway, and Richard turns into a total bitch when he's kept waiting," Jared said with an amused grin. He looked at Jensen and his smile widened before he pressed a soft kiss to Jensen's lips, running his tongue lightly over them and pulling back.

"You'd better go then," Jensen muttered softly, not looking entirely happy with that plan. But Jared nodded, then cringed at the state of his trousers.

"I'm gonna just… go into the bathroom first, okay? Meesh, I'll be back in a minute, then we can leave, yeah?" Jared asked, walking swiftly toward the bathroom and ignoring the amused look Misha was sending him.

"Sure thing, Jared. We can leave whenever you're ready." Really, there was no need for Misha to sound that amused in Jared's opinion.

* * *

"I didn't think Richard would be able to convince you to get into your role quite as well as you have, Jared. Though for future reference, I'm not much of a biter." Jared felt his face light with his blush when Mark walked over to him as he waited for the doors to open and to start his role as sub to Mark. He'd met Aldis when he'd arrived an hour before and he'd been surprised at just how 'into' it Jared had appeared, much to the obvious amusement of Richard (who had indeed declared Jared would get a pay rise for the effort put into his costume) and Misha (who promptly tripped over a riding crop left next to the bar, and took out Denise, the senior barmaid and part-time dominatrix). Mark, however, hadn't been scheduled to arrive until just before they opened the doors for the night.

Which was now.

"Hey, Mark," Jared greeted, not even blinking when Mark leered at him and wrapped his leash around his wrist. He looked over to where Aldis was talking to one of the inner doormen, Niall, and then whistled shrilly, making Jared wince. "Ouch."

"Gotta keep my little subs in line, don't I?" Mark told him with a smirk and Jared just rolled his eyes while Aldis hurried over, eyes widening when he saw how Mark and Jared were standing.

"Erm…"

"Oh relax, Kid. Richard told me you're new to the scene. Jared's been around here for months now. He's old hat to being my submissive. You get to just stand behind me, next to Jared and look pretty," Mark told Aldis with a roll of his eyes. He tugged on Jared's leash with another smirk and led the two of them to the main doors for their job of the night. Jared just knew they were going to freeze.

"You might wanna stick by my other side. Some of the less behaved doms can get a bit too handsy," Jared muttered to Aldis, twisting the chain attaching his wrists together around his fingers. He shifted to get comfortable one step behind Mark, and leaned against the wall, waiting for the time to unlock the doors while Mark looked every bit the high-class Master in front of him, complete with huge metal ring of keys.

"Actually, Aldis should be alright seeing as he's a doorman, but Jared could have a point. If you don't wanna get groped hide behind Gigantor," Mark told him before he straightened up, brushed himself down and, with a clang of keys, unlocked the doors.

Jared followed Mark outside with a tug of his leash and didn't have time to feel shy or embarrassed when he saw the fairly long line of customers waiting to go inside the club before Mark tugged his leash and pointed for him to stand behind him, allowing him to lean against the door. Aldis quietly moved to stand on Jared's other side, furthest from the entrance and any grabby hands.

With a glance at them both and a nod, Mark moved and slowly started to take entrance fees, check IDs and let people inside. Jared couldn't help but wonder if Richard would bring them out some sort of coat before they caught hypothermia or after and he felt guilty about it.

Mentally sighing and trying to ignore the way he was practically being devoured visually by the customers as they passed him to enter to club, Jared settled himself for a long night of being objectified. He was never going to shut Danneel's feminist spiels out ever again after this night.

Well, he'll listen to the first five minutes at least.

* * *

  


* * *

Note Sixteen

_'Anyone seen the kitchen?' – Jason_

Jared snickered as he read the note left on the kitchen, shrugging when he glanced over the counters and didn't really see anything wrong. Or at least, nothing that he thought required a bitchy note from Jason.

Well, beside the fact that the kitchen was probably in its clean state because Jason had been the one to frantically clean it, but Jared also didn't bother to feel guilty over that. The few times Jared had actually cleaned the kitchen, he'd come back hours later only to find Jason going over everything once more with a sponge and scary amount of bleach. So really, if the guy’s OCD was so bad that he had the urge to clean a kitchen only a couple of hours after someone else had done so, then Jared just wasn't going to bother with it anymore.

Which was why he hadn't cleaned the kitchen for a good few weeks, if not a couple of months. And he had no idea when the last time Misha had cleaned the place was. In their defence, however, it wasn't like they were there an awful lot. He rarely ate there; in fact, he figured he only slept there on an average of about once or twice a week. If that. Well, at normal, human sleeping hours that is. He did come back to nap a couple of times in the week whenever he had a good lengthy break between classes. Which, this year, he had quite a few of. Every Tuesday and Thursday, at least. So there was that time he spent in the apartment, he supposed.

All the same, as amusing as the note was, it still made Jared roll his eyes and think Jason was just being a whiny little bitch who couldn't think of anything else to whine about. Had they cleaned the kitchen all the time, then Jason would probably have moaned about how they no longer let him feed his OCD habits and let him use his daily quota of bleach on the place.

Muttering to himself under his breath, he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and walked back to his room. He had three books that needed to be read by the end of the week, and given it was now Wednesday, he felt he was a little behind. His plan had been, that because he had the day off, and Jensen hadn't, he was going to spend the day and night catching up. He had no idea what Misha was doing that night and he hadn't actually factored in what he would do had another note been left.

He perhaps should have done that at least. It was somewhat foolish of him not to have done so. In fact, he was both annoyed and embarrassed at his seemingly optimistic view on how he would be able to spend the day. Sometimes he cursed his optimism, he really did.

He glanced at Jason’s shut door when he passed it on his way to his own room and took a moment to try and think if he'd heard the front door slam when he'd actually been woken by the sounds Jason made while cleaning the kitchen, but couldn't actually be sure. So deciding not to risk seeing if Jason was in or not, he quietly darted past the room and made it to his own, letting out a sigh of relief as he closed his door behind him. He placed the water on his bedside table and threw himself onto the bed with a groan of relief, which turned into a groan of despair when he saw the three books he'd been putting off. Eyeing the titles distastefully, he huffed and grabbed _Jane Eyre_ off the top of the pile, deciding to get that one over and done with. He really hated most of the literature from that period.

Though _Tess of the D'Urbervilles_ was a guilty pleasure of his, that he enjoyed reading whenever he felt in the mood to be thoroughly depressed by literature. As you do. His argument for that, when Misha had caught him and asked, was that it was hard being so cheerful all the time, so he liked to read about the pain and misery of others to make him truly realise just how good he had it.

That was probably one reason that he hadn't wanted to read it recently. Really, Tess did have a shitty time in the book, but at least she didn't have to deal with petty note wars and being turned into a scapegoat whenever something went wrong and no note was actually left. Or a note that no one wanted to own up to was left out.

It was also why he didn't want to read _Jane Eyre_. Unfortunately for him, however, it was part of the required reading for the year and he'd put it off long enough. Especially considering they would be discussing it starting next week if Sandy was right.

He managed to make his way through quite a fair portion of it, having mentally thanked his mother for teaching him the basics of speed reading for information when he was younger at the beginning of his first year, when he'd first seen the reading list for this course. Looking up when his door opened, he saw Misha looking in at him hopefully, nose wrinkling when he saw what Jared was reading, which was a fair and valid reaction.

"Hey, why are you reading that drivel? She's a silly tart who needs a good slapping," Misha muttered quietly, walking into the room and closing the door behind him.

"Got to read it for class next week. And she's just misunderstood, I'm sure," Jared answered, knowing that that was going to be the opinion of a certain student in his class who seemed to think everyone, fictional or real, deserved the benefit of the doubt. It got old. Even for someone as understanding and nice as Jared. In fact, sometimes he just wanted to shoot her and see if anyone cared. He doubted it. He contented himself however, by spending most of the time she spoke exchanging bitchy notes with Sandy in his notebook.

"Huh. Whiny bitch if you ask me. So, seen the new note?" Misha asked and Jared, seeing the perfect opportunity to put off reading anymore of the stupid novel, placed it face down and open on his bedside table and looked at Misha, motioning for him to join him on the bed.

"Yep, read it, ignored it and hid from anyone that might have been in the apartment all day. I've been reading in here for quite a few hours now," Jared told him with a shrug while Misha walked over and lay down on the bed next to Jared. The double beds they had was one plus side to boarding off campus, yet still didn't quite make living in Hell any better. It did make sleeping comfier though.

"I think Jason might be in, but I'm not sure. Mind if I just nap for an hour or two in here? You working later at all?" Misha asked sleepily, looking at Jared, who just shrugged and shuffled around to get comfortable.

"Nope, got the day off. No work at all, and I had a day off from classes as well. They were cancelled for some departmental meeting or review or something. I don't know, didn't care beyond it meaning I had a whole day to do nothing. Have you been at college all day?" Jared asked, rolling his eyes when Misha just nodded his head, then started to shuffle, shift and twist, trying to find the most comfortable spot. "I think I'm gonna join you in that nap, Meesh."

"Good plan. Now shut up, I'm trying to sleep."

* * *

Jared was startled awake by the sound of someone slamming a pan of some sort on the side in the kitchen. Looking down at where Misha seemed to have curled around him in his sleep, he found he was being stared at by Misha's wide eyes.

"Found the note, you think?" Misha whispered, shifting so that he could look towards the door where they could hear the muffled sound of Jason's angry mutterings.

"Sounds like it. Who do you think is the one being scolded?" Jared asked, snickering slightly at the thought of anyone being put through one of Jason's reprimands.

"No clue. Should we try and escape while we still can?" Misha asked in a whisper, and Jared thought on it for a second before he shrugged.

"Where to? I mean, I agree, we need to get out, but Jensen's working, Mike is… who knows where, I think he mention Tom, possibly. Neither of us are working… so… what? Should we go to our workplaces anyway?" Jared asked, also keeping his voice quiet in the hopes that neither Jason nor Jason's current victim heard them and realised they were in.

"Only plan we have. Head to Café Sol first, then, when that closes, head to Asylum. Ooh, no! We could go to Dreaded Fairies afterwards, instead!" Misha whispered excitedly, and Jared narrowed his eyes at him, but then shrugged and nodded.

"Sounds good to me. Also, I think it's Chad," Jared added, just when he thought he could possibly hear Chad responding to Jason's rants, followed quickly by more clattering and crashing of pans. "Let's head out now."

"We need to get dressed. I'll be back in a second. No need to dress up. Jeans, t-shirt… you know. That kinda thing," Misha told him before getting up and promptly falling over the edge of the bed, having not realised just how tangled he and Jared had become. Jared snorted and looked over the side of the bed to a dazed Misha.

"This is why Jensen thought we were an item, by the way. Just thought you should know that. I'll meet you outside the apartment in ten minutes, should be easier if we leave separately. Less noise maybe," Jared explained to Misha as he moved to help him get up from the floor, before standing up from his bed in the first place.

"Good idea. See you outside in a little bit then," Misha told him, turning and quietly hurrying out of Jared's room to go to his own.

Turning quickly, Jared grabbed a pair of jeans and a clean t-shirt from his drawers and got changed. He ran his fingers through his hair briefly and then grabbed his phone, keys and wallet, placing them in his pockets as he quietly left his room.

With a quick glance towards Misha's closed door, Jared quietly hurried down the hallway and paused by the kitchen door, wincing when he heard Chad shout at Jason about his OCD, accompanied by a loud crash, which Jared hoped wasn't anything of his. Using the resulting backlash of Jason's angry yelling as his cover, Jared ran to the front door and almost silently opened it and shut it again behind him.

* * *

"What are you doing here? You're not scheduled in are you? Oh god, tell me I haven't cocked up the rota. Gen arrived an hour ago," Danneel whined as soon as she saw Jared walk into the coffee shop. Jared just grinned at her, nodding his head to Misha next to him.

"New note."

"Ah, it's all gone down hill then?" Danneel said with an understanding nod, looking at Misha when he snorted in disbelief.

"When was it ever _up_ hill? No, really, when? I'd love to know," Misha muttered grumpily. Danneel narrowed her eyes at him dangerously, making Jared quickly smile charmingly at his boss before steering Misha to their regular table.

"I'll just bring your coffees over to you, shall I?" Danneel snapped out after them and Jared muttered under his breath before turning around to once more smile winningly at her.

"I'll be over in a second. Don’t worry!" Jared called out before turning back to Misha, scowl firmly in place, making Misha look contrite. "You know she doesn't like back talk! She'll eat you alive, Meesh and you know it!"

"Sorry," Misha muttered and Jared rolled his eyes before turning to walk back to grab their coffees.

"Here," Jared muttered, placing the coffee down in front of Misha before taking a sip of his own. He then quickly put his mug down on the table and pulled his phone out.

"Who're you texting?"

"Milo, thought I'd warn him to stay away from the apartment for a while," Jared explained while typing out the message for Milo. Seconds later he got a reply thanking him; apparently Milo was going to stay out of sight for the rest of the week. When he told Misha this, Misha snorted and shook his head.

"You do know that it was Milo's scheduled turn to actually clean the kitchen, right?" Misha pointed out, and Jared sighed, glancing at his coffee in front of him. He really needed something stronger.

* * *

When Misha had said that Dreaded Fairies wasn't quite like The Asylum, he wasn't kidding. It was so far from The Asylum that it could well have been a completely different planet. The music playing was trance music and had a good heavy beat to it that made Jared feel like he could actually dance without causing someone some serious injury.

What was more surprising, possibly, was the fact that it was almost pitch black. The walls were black, the floor was a dark wood by the looks of it and Jared could just about make out a raised seating area nearer the bar on the other side of the room to the entrance. Between them and the tables was a large dance floor full of writhing people. It was incredible, and what made it more so was the fact that it was so dark because most of the lighting were black lights, making any white clothing, or neon clothing anyone was wearing, glow.

Glancing to the side where Misha was standing with a grin on his face, Jared chuckled and noticed Mark heading his way over to them, leer on his face as he took them in.

"We getting very drunk? Please say yes!" Jared shouted over the music to Misha, who smiled brightly and nodded his head, before tugging Jared so they could meet with Mark.

"Welcome to my humble abode! There's paint over there, should you wish to be a little brighter. And the paint drums are brought out at eleven," Mark told them in a loud voice, turning sharply to lead them around the throngs of people on the dance floor until they reached the table area. He led them to a more secluded table and motioned for them to take a seat.

"What's the drum thing?" Jared asked once he'd taken a seat and Mark and Misha had also sat around the table with him. Mark glanced over his shoulder and jerked his head to whoever he was looking at before turning back to face Jared and Misha.

"I've got two big steel drums. I fill 'em with neon paint and then people can play 'em, get splattered with the paint. Make themselves glow even more. Apparently acid and E make it look even more amazing. There's face paint too. By the way, Richard told me to tell you both that he won't be impressed if either of you take anything when you're here! I don't know what he thinks this place is like!" Mark said in an insulted tone, as though he hadn't, moments before, mentioned people here taking drugs casually.

"Er… We won’t? We just want to get drunk," Misha told him and Jared noticed a woman heading towards them with a notebook, making Jared think that Mark must have been calling her over earlier.

"Right, well I can help with that then. Drinks are on the house for tonight. Drink what you like, go dance and have clothed sex with strangers. Oh! You can have temporary paint put in your hair as well, should you rather not get your faces painted," Mark told them before he stood up to leave the table when the waitress finally got to them. Misha and Jared thanked him, told the girl what they wanted, and then turned to look at one another.

"Hair paint?" Jared asked with a grin once the waitress had left to get their drinks. Misha looked at him with an answering grin on his face.

"Definitely hair paint. Maybe face paint too. We gonna go on the drums later too?"

"Damn right we are. Before though, before we have to get drunk," Jared said with a firm nod, ignoring the small voice in the back of his head that told him he'd be going to his morning classes the next day hung-over and with painted hair. He'd worry about that when it happened. Now he just wanted to get really, really drunk.


	10. Chapter 10

Note Seventeen

_'Jason,  
Thanks to you, this flat is now vampire free!  
Cheers!  
Milo'_

It had been a very long day by the time Jared finally finished his monster shift at the coffee shop. Gen called in sick and so he'd been asked to cover until Sandy could get in, which ended up with Jared having worked for almost twelve hours. It wasn't fun, especially when his shift had started at six that morning. By the time he'd gotten changed out of his uniform and made the walk back to his apartment, it was nearing half past six in the evening and Jared really just wanted to collapse into his bed and sleep through until his alarm went off for his next shift the following day. He hated weekends sometimes.

This was why he groaned and wanted to cry a little when he saw Misha sitting in the hallway outside their apartment, playing with a ball and cup. Which was just odd even for Misha and Jared wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to ask about first.

"One, why are you outside and two, what are you playing with and where did you get it?" Jared asked, moving to lean against the wall opposite Misha. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Misha with a raised eyebrow when the man put a hand up to signal quiet. Misha then, with great concentration, spent the following five minutes trying to get the ball into the little cup on a handle, giving a triumphant cry of joy when he succeeded after numerous tries.

"First off, and most importantly, have you got a cold, allergies or anything that might be causing you to have a blocked nose? Or, do you have no sense of smell? Any will be beneficial," Misha asked him, placing the cup on the floor beside him and moving to lean his head against the wall. Jared uncrossed his arms and looked at Misha in complete confusion.

"No, I don’t have any of those. My sense of smell's fine. Meesh, what's going on?" Jared asked, exhaustion clear in his voice. Really, he just wanted to sleep. His bed was calling to him, he could hear it.

"Well, there's been a new note," Misha told him cautiously, making Jared groan and slide down the wall so he was sprawled on the floor opposite Misha.

"What did it say?" Jared asked, though his voice was somewhat muffled by the fact he was trying to smother himself with his arms and not quite succeeding. Clearly Misha understood his question however, given he answered it.

"Well, we can venture in the apartment and you can see for yourself, but I just thought I'd warn you that, well, it was aimed _at_ Jason for once. Seemed he tried to cook something," Misha told him, face showing that Misha at least, didn't think Jason had succeeded.

"Oh God, did he burn the kitchen down?" Jared asked, though he wasn't actually sure if he wanted to hear the answer if Jason had done that.

"No. Just, well, let's just say that, should you go in there, there is a high possibility that Jensen won't be sleeping with you for a while. Just saying," Misha added when Jared shot him a confused look.

"Now I've got to go in just to see what the hell you're going on about," Jared muttered, standing up from the floor with a groan. An echoing groan informed him that Misha had stood up as well and, after picking up his bag, he turned to see that Misha was waiting for him by the door.

"Ready? Don't say I didn't warn you," Misha told him and with a nod from Jared, he opened the door. Almost immediately, Jared was hit by an overwhelming smell of garlic and swore that he could feel his eyes start to burn.

"Fuck me!" Jared coughed out, following Misha further into the apartment and towards the kitchen, though every particle of his being was screaming at him to get out and possibly shower with bleach.

"Told you it was bad," Misha commented before he stopped by the note pinned to the kitchen door. As soon as he read it, Jared burst into laughter and clutched at his stomach, tears forming in his eyes. "It is rather amusing, isn't it? It worries me just what affect _Twilight_ had on Milo, though."

"That's brilliant," Jared added with a chuckle before he quickly snapped a photo of it on his phone and sent the picture in a message to Jensen, sending one to Mike as well.

"It is quite genius, but it does beg the question of what the hell we're going to do. Because, I may not be a vampire, but I'm beginning to wonder if my brother was right about my grandfather being one and therefore making us partially one," Misha commented, making Jared look at him incredulously and notice that his eyes were beginning to look bloodshot.

"Huh. Really? Why'd he say that?" Jared asked, not entirely sure what they could do either, though he did wander over to the window in the front room and open it in hopes that it would air the place a little.

"His name was Olaf, he had a weird accent and was an insomniac. Plus, he was like ninety when he died apparently, and he was killed by getting impaled," Misha told him lightly. Jared almost gave himself whiplash at the speed with which he spun around to face Misha, gaping unattractively and blinking.

"What? He was impaled?!"

"Yeah, Gramma Hilde swore blind it was an accident, but apparently Grandda Olaf tripped in the kitchen and seemingly landed on a broken chair leg or something. Dunno, he was old, it could have happened that way. Though, I always wondered why there was a broken chair leg sticking up on the ground where he fell," Misha added ponderously and Jared just gaped at him before shaking his head in the hopes to clear it and realise this was all just a random joke.

"Did he turn to dust?" Jared's brain to mouth filter, apparently, hadn't been given the memo that it was time to start working once more.

"Life isn't _Buffy_ , Jared. You should know that. There was a lot of blood though, so Stoker may have been on to something," Misha said, and Jared honestly had no idea what to say to respond to that.

They both stood there, staring out the open window and breathing in the fresh, non-garlic air drifting in, in silence, before Jared huffed and turned to look at Misha.

"We could stay in the hallway?" Jared said before groaning and moving to bang his head on the wall next to the window. "This is ridiculous. Honestly, it's getting to the point where I'm actually considering offering to pay rent to Mike and Jen. We're fugitives. Fugitives!!"

"Jared, calm down. When was the last time you slept? In fact, how long were you working?! Because you weren't here when I woke up," Misha calmly said, placing a hand on Jared's back and rubbing it soothingly. Apparently Jared sounded marginally more hysterical than he had thought.

"I had work at six. My alarm woke me up at four thirty. I'm tired, Mee," Jared muttered, mentally wondering if he sounded as pathetic as he thought.

"Hmm, well, we could take our blankets into the hallway and just have some freakish seven pm sleepover and hope no one complains to the landlord. We're the last apartment in the corridor, so it wouldn't be like we'd be in anyone's way."

"Good plan. We'll do that," Jared said with a nod, suddenly feeling the effects of having been awake for fifteen hours, twelve of which were spent making copious amounts of coffee for grumpy, bitchy customers. He trailed after Misha like a zombie, taking his cover when Misha shoved it into his arms, then following Misha to get his own cover and finally getting out of the vampire-free apartment.

It was with a sigh of relief that Jared and Misha closed the door behind them, almost immediately noticing the lack of garlic smell. They moved to the end of the corridor and made a small nest in the corner nearest their apartment door, then curled around one another under the blankets. It didn't take long with Misha's random humming accompanied by gently playing with Jared's hair, for Jared to fall into a deep, needed sleep.

* * *

"Jay. Jay, wake up." Jared grumbled in his sleep, batting weakly at whoever it was that was trying to wake him up. Really, it was quite mean, he really needed the sleep. Why wouldn't whoever it was just leave him be? "Jay, wake up, I'm gonna take you to my place for the night."

Jared startled awake when he felt his covers brutally being pulled away from him, which, given he was wrapped in them like a cocoon meant he rolled with them, then had the unfortunate sensation of someone shoving their wet finger into his ear.

"Meesh," Jared mumbled, smacking the offending finger away from him and ignoring the laughing of his two torturers. He opened his eyes and glowered at whoever had woken him, only to drop it almost immediately and drool a little at seeing Jensen crouched in front of him in his scrubs. "Jen."

"Hey, Jay. Misha sent me a text to ask me to come here when my shift ended. Why didn't you call me? Or, in fact, why didn't you both just come over to mine and Mike's straight away?" Jensen asked him, brushing the hair out of Jared's face when Jared just blinked at him sleepily.

"Time s'it?" Jared asked, trying to detangle himself from his covers so that he could stand up. Jensen helped him while Misha just watched them with open amusement. He did pick the blanket up however, once Jared had gotten free and was standing with the help of Jensen.

"It's a little past nine. Come on, I'm taking you and Misha back to mine. I think the garlic smell is starting to seep through the doors," Jensen added with a wrinkle of his nose. Jared nodded and looked over at Misha, who looked almost as ruffled as Jared probably did.

"I'm gonna have to agree with you there. How much garlic do you think Jason actually used? Do you think he thought a clove of garlic meant the whole damn bushel?" Misha asked, seemingly checking to make sure that Jared hadn't fallen back to sleep before he led them down the corridor to the elevator.

"Smells like it," Jensen agreed, linking his fingers with Jared's and tugging him to follow Misha down the corridor. Jared just followed sleepily behind, yawning widely and silently wanting to sob over how little sleep he had gotten. He half hoped that Jensen didn't want to do anything but sleep, though the other half of his brain was hoping Jensen _did_ have plans, and that they involved some of Jared's fantasy's about 'Doctor Jensen'. Really, the scrubs weren't helping disperse those fantasies. At all.

* * *

As it turned out, having worked a shift longer than even Jared's, Jensen was just as exhausted as Jared had been once they'd gotten to Jensen's house. He'd told Misha to make himself at home, use their internet, do what he pleased, then led Jared to his room, and nudged him to lie on the bed. He'd then promptly taken Jared's trainers off, kicked his own off, and curled up around Jared, both falling asleep within seconds of one another.

The next morning, however, Jared had been woken up by his phone's alarm chirping annoyingly happily in his ear and found that Jensen had only moved enough in the night so that he completely covered Jared, face pushed into Jared's neck. Therefore, Jared couldn’t be blamed for not wanting to move. Well, not much. If moving involved sex, then he was all up for that. A muffled chuckle in his ear told him that he wasn't the only one that had been woken by his phone.

"What's the time?" Jensen asked, breath puffing against Jared's shoulder before he moved to nuzzle the sensitive skin behind Jared's ear.

"Four thirty. I've got work at six," Jared mumbled, hand automatically moving to run through Jensen's hair and smiling when Jensen practically purred in pleasure.

"We've got time for a shower then," Jensen murmured, licking the skin he'd been nuzzling, then pulling back so that he could look at Jared. It was only then that Jared realised they were both only topless, and that Jensen was still in his scrub trousers. Had he not been aroused before, he certainly was then.

"Definitely have time. Don't have to leave until twenty past five," Jared said, running his hands up and down Jensen's back, feeling the last remnants of sleep leave his mind. Shifting slightly, he nudged Jensen to sit up. "Let's go shower."

One thing Jared loved about Jensen and Mike's place was the fact that, although it was small, it had three bathrooms. Two were en-suites. It kinda baffled Jared a little, but on mornings like this one, he certainly wasn't going to complain.

Turning on the shower, Jared let the water heat up to the right temperature and turned to look at Jensen leaning against the sink, smiling at him sleepily. He walked over to stand in front of Jensen and tugged on his trousers, untying the string holding them up and letting them drop to the floor. He moved to press a soft, sleepy kiss to Jensen's lips while pushing Jensen's boxers down, moving back to allow Jensen to step out of them and unbutton his own jeans.

Once they were both naked, Jared pressed another, deeper kiss to Jensen's lips, and tugged him into the shower, breath leaving him slightly when the water hit him. He quickly had Jensen pressed flush against him, getting pushed against the wall of the shower in the process. Jared gasped at the shock of cold tiles against bare skin, allowing Jensen to thrust his tongue into his mouth, mapping it out and brushing against his own, even while his hands trailed down Jared's body, making Jared feel light-headed with the almost overload of pleasure.

Keening in the back of his throat, Jared pulled away from the kiss and gulped down much needed air while Jensen moved down to lick and nibble at the flesh of Jared's neck and shoulders. Jensen pulled away, making Jared whine and open his eyes, not actually sure when he'd closed them in the first place, and looked at Jensen questioningly.

"Turn around," Jensen whispered, making Jared look at him with a nod and spin around so fast that Jensen had to reach out to prevent him from falling and taking them both out. Really, showers were not built for fully-grown men.

Jared ignored those thoughts however as, as soon as he was facing the wall, Jensen pressed up against him and gently bit down on Jared's neck, making him gasp and clutch frantically at the wet tiles.

"Jen…" Jared whined, writhing and trying to get even closer to Jensen, who just hushed him. Jensen ran his hands down Jared's sides while he carefully nudged Jared's legs to get him to spread them a little more. Jared felt his breath hitch when he did so and felt Jensen move a hand to press a finger against his pucker.

"Knew waterproof lube was a good investment," Jensen murmured against Jared's back, pulling back slightly to cover his finger in some of the lube that Jensen seemed to have pulled out of thin air. Jared tried to relax when Jensen moved closer to him once more and slowly pushed a finger into him. Arching to get closer, Jared shifted his legs a little wider and moaned when Jensen added a second finger and began to scissor and twist them.

By the time Jensen added a third finger Jared was panting and was partially being held up by Jensen. He moaned loudly when Jensen pressed against his prostate, making pleasure flash through his body.

"Jen… I'm good. Please, Jen," Jared moaned, groaning when Jensen kissed his shoulder and pulled his fingers out, a crinkle behind him telling him that Jensen was rolling a condom over his own erection. Moments later, he grunted as Jensen slowly pushed into him, pausing slightly when he was half in to allow Jared to relax a little, before pushing the rest of the way in. He stopped and pressed his forehead to the back of Jared's neck, panting harshly.

Jared let his head drop down a little, fingers still trying to dig into the tiles, and shifted to hint for Jensen to move. He groaned loudly when Jensen pulled back and thrust back in, making pleasure shoot up Jared's spine. Jared let his head fall back to rest on Jensen's shoulder, awkwardly kissing the bottom of Jensen's jaw and moaning and whimpering every time his prostate was brushed against or hit directly.

He could feel his climax building and cried out hoarsely when Jensen shifted, causing his erection to hit Jared's prostate with every thrust. Jensen moved a hand from Jared's hip and reached it round to grasp Jared's own neglected erection. With the added stimulation it didn't take long before Jared felt his orgasm crash over him, shouting Jensen's name as he scrabbled at the wall. Only seconds later and Jensen thrust forcefully into him with a grunt, gasping Jared's name as he came, then slumped against Jared's back, breathing heavily.

"Danneel's so going to know you fucked me this morning," Jared muttered when he finally thought he was coherent enough to do so and could feel his legs once more. Jensen just chuckled against his back, gently pulling out of Jared and moving under the spray from the shower to throw away the condom. Jared slowly moved around so that he was leaning with his back against the wall and smiled at Jensen when he turned back to face him.

Jensen stepped closer to him once more, reaching out to grab the sponge on the shelf and kissing Jared softly as he began to clean him, then allowing Jared to return the favour. They didn't get out of the shower until the water starter to get noticeably cooler and Jared was at risk of being late for work. It was with a much better mood that Jared greeted customers later that day.


	11. Interlude Two

Interlude 2

«You kept singing the copa cabana and saying HAVE A BANANA to random people on the street. You also went up to this poor short guy and hugged him while proceeding to yell I LOVE YOU CHILD MAN into his face. Please tell me you're sober now.» \- _Jensen_

Jared was convinced that alcohol was the work of the devil, or possibly someone even more evil. Like possibly Mark. Whoever thought it up, they were gunning for him to make a complete dick of himself in front of the world if the text he'd been woken up by from Jensen was anything to go by.

Groaning and wishing there was someway he could erase what happened the night before from the minds of everyone, including himself. And sort of jealously hated the ones that seemed to forget everything when they had enough to drink.

He should have known that agreeing to go with Jensen to see Chris and their friend, Steve's band was going to be a bad idea. Given Chris' propensity to get Jensen completely wrecked, it stood to reason that he'd do the same to Jared. It just didn't seem fair that it meant he left Jensen to stay sober.

And apparently allowed Jared to maul unsuspecting shorter people. Which, given his six and a half foot frame, really wasn't hard to find.

Groaning again, wincing when it just made his headache even worse and his stomach lurch. The thing was, however, Jared actually thought that he may still be a little drunk. Though surely he wouldn't be feeling this bad if he _was_ still drunk.

Still, Chris and Steve's band were really good, and Jared got the impression that Steve liked him. Well, he liked him before the Copa Cabana. He couldn't quite recall if he'd gotten any impression of what Steve thought of him after that. Chris was highly amused though. Jared was actually kinda looking forward to Spring Break. He could maybe hide in Jeff's guest room for the two weeks and not drink. Definitely not drink. Ever again.

* * *

«I have 145 Jello shots in the fridge, 2 pounds of chronic in the closet, and borrowing four fire extinguishers. Other people are bringing a lot more goodies though. Are you ready for spring break?» \- _Jeff_

Apparently, if the message he got from him brother the next day when he was subject to being mercilessly mocked by Jensen, Chris and Steve (who liked Jared even more because of his light-weightedness.) his plans to hide and not drink weren't going to be put in place.

"Who's the text from?" Chris asked, looking at him curiously while Jared felt his stomach roll in thought of what all that alcohol was going to do. Or worse, what _he_ was going to do with that amount of alcohol in his system.

"Jeff, my brother," Jared muttered, cringing at what his imagination was coming up with and passing his phone to Jensen when the other three continued to look intrigued. As soon as they read it they burst into laughter, which just got harder when Jared whimpered.

"Aw, come on Jay! You looked really fetching dancing on down like Leia," Jensen told him and Jared glared at him.

"Wasn't the dancer called Lola?" Jared asked, eyes narrowing even further when Chris and Steve joined Jensen in the laughter. "What?"

"Apparently, the only version you know is the Star Wars Cantina one," Steve explained, being the only one that could stop laughing enough to do so. Jared looked at him blankly for a few seconds before groaning and burying his head in his hands.

"I blame Misha. He plays weird songs!"

* * *

«due to concerns over safety, the theme of the 'naked fondue party' has now been changed to the 'naked fondue party w/opt. apron'. please b.y.o.apron. xtra prizes for most creative apron.» \- _Jared_  
«I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that is Mike's idea for a party? Did Jeff agree to that party?» \- _Jensen_

Jared snorted when he got Jensen's reply and chuckled to himself when he replied the affirmative. He looked up when Mike wandered past the couch he was sitting on, holding two different aprons in each hand and another slung over his shoulder. Thankfully, he was still fully dressed. Jared had revised his decision to not drink ever again after he'd been told that he wasn't allowed to stay in his room at Jeff's _and_ that Mike had organized a naked fondue party.

Really, he needed all the alcohol in the world and he was certain that he'd still remember the damned night. How Mike had gotten Jeff to agree to this party, Jared had no clue, but he thought blackmail was involved somehow.

"Go with the one with the picture of a man's chest. At least that's wearing boxer-briefs. It'll allow the rest of us to imagine that you're wearing something under that apron as well. Oh, and I refuse to get naked. I'll man the scolding hot cheese or something," Jared muttered to himself, wincing as he thought about the injuries this night looked to be about to cause.

"Oh, Jaybee! Don't be silly! We don't expect you to be naked if you don't want to. Besides! Jeff's got like seven fondue pots. We're gonna have three in here, two in the kitchen and two on the back deck. Jay, what is Jeff getting paid these days to afford this house?" Mike asked, which just made Jared blink at him and then burst into laughter.

"You only ask that now? We've been here for ten days, Mike! How is it that you've only just thought to ask now?"

"What? I think this is the first time I've actually been completely sober this week. I've only just noticed that a guy my age should not be able to afford a three bedroom house with a good sized yard," Mike said, voice suspiciously sounding like he was whining. Jared just snorted and looked at Mike, completely unimpressed.

"He's got a good job, Mike. Besides, you and Jen live in a two bedroom house with an alright sized yard and you're both students!" Jared pointed out, only for Mike to huff and fling an apron at him.

"Wear that one, it's so you," Mike told him huffily before walking away from him and to the kitchen. Jared snorted and looked down at the apron in his hands. He wasn't sure if he should be insulted when he saw it was a montage of puppies. He was actually a little disturbed that Mike owned it in the first place.

* * *

Jared smiled politely at the drunken brunette woman clinging to his arm, trying to explain to him why aprons needed built in bras. He had no idea where her friends were, though he thought he saw his brother smiling widely while talking to the one wearing only a very short French maid's apron.

Looking over the heads of the people in the front room, Jared noted that there was a free spot on the couch and urged the girl to walk with him towards it. Grabbing a beer from the table as he passed, he downed half of it when he got to the couch and then coaxed her to sit down. He chuckled when she immediately turned to the woman next to her and told her about her theory on aprons. He left them having a very enthusiastic discussion on how they'd go about revolutionising the apron.

He wandered around the house, generally looking for someone he might recognise to talk to and smiling widely when he saw two of Jeff's old college friends in Jeff's room passing a spliff back and forth. They both called him over when they saw him.

"Jay! Come, join us! Tell us 'bout your flatmates! Jeff told us they were freaks! Come!!" the guy on the floor leaning against the bed called out to him. Jared was fairly certain he was called Simon. The other guy he couldn't remember the name of at all, but he figured they were both well on their way to forgetting their own names anyway, so Jared not remembering their names wouldn't be frowned upon.

* * *

«I just walked through the woods having a conversation with every spider I saw in it's web. They all have English accents. I'm drunk and this weed is incredible!» \- _Jared_

Jensen's laughter echoed in Jared's mind for the whole plane journey back, though apparently Misha was very interested to learn of the national identity of spiders. It concerned Jared a little that apparently, during Spring Break, Jensen and Misha had 'bonded' with one another. Though he was more disturbed when Jensen told him that Misha had decided to seduce Mike and see how things would work out between them. Really, that was quite a disturbing image. He wasn't sure two people have ever been able to peacefully rule the world together. Or anything. It didn't end well in most stories.

He had been reassured though, when Jensen informed him that Misha refused to take him to The Asylum, claiming that that was Jared's job. Which was swiftly followed by Jensen telling him that he expected Jared to take him sometime in the near future. The blush on his face made Mike look at him strangely, before grinning lewdly and grabbing for Jared's phone. The people sitting in the departures lounge watched in stunned amusement when two grown men fell to the floor, fighting over a phone.

Everyone was quite thankful when the plane was called. And Jared hadn't left a plane as quickly as he had hours later after landing back in San Francisco. Mike's cackling chased him off.


	12. Chapter 12

Note Eighteen

_'Guys!  
Beware! Don't go into the kitchen!! We are so sorry! We were making banoffee pie and put a tin of condensed milk on to boil. As you can see, the milk exploded and the hot sugar has stuck to everything.   
Unfortunately, the sugar has stuck solid on the ceiling and the walls and the landlord thinks we will have to get the kitchen decorated.   
We will cover the costs. It is completely our fault. We are so sorry, we just wanted to try out a new dessert, and nipped out to the shops.  
Misha & Jared'_

Misha woke him up early about a week and a bit after he'd arrived back after Spring Break, jumping on his bed and looking suspiciously excited about something. Jared groaned and pulled his covers over his head in the hopes that it was just a weird and horrific dream that Misha was grinning down at him. He'd been up until the early hours of the morning reading, since Jensen was working once more and Jared had decided to not follow Misha to work that night because things seemed to be okay in terms of the note war went. So really, he didn't want (or expect) to be woken up at the ass crack of dawn by a maniacally grinning Misha.

"Have you finished deciding if I'm really here or not?" Jared groaned when Misha spoke, then grunted in slight discomfort when Misha dropped down onto his stomach to straddle him.

"G'way!" Jared muttered, clutching on to the covers over his head tightly while Misha tried to pry them away.

"You don't want to hear what I have to say? Come on, Jay! It's nearly ten in the morning! Wake up! We have to get ready!" That got Jared's attention, though possibly not how Misha had intended. He was almost certain Misha hadn't intended for Jared to feel dread wash over him. Almost.

"What have you got us into now?" Jared whined, though he imagined the full effect was somewhat muffled by the cover still over his head. Actually, he was considering moving it as he was starting to find it a little difficult to breathe.

Throwing the cover off his head and taking in deep, gasping breaths of air, Jared glared at a sheepish, yet attempting to be innocent, Misha still straddling his legs and calmly folding the covers down in front of him over Jared's stomach, having removed it from his own head.

"Just tell me," Jared sighed when it seemed Misha was just going to continue faffing about smoothing the covers over and massaging over Jared's bladder, which would get yet another reaction Misha probably wasn't looking for that morning.

"Richard and Mark were both at Asylum last night, and well they were discussing you and our living arrangements. I dunno, somehow it ended with me inviting them over to dinner. I said we were both really good at making things. And well… Mark said something about banoffee pie and, what do you know, that's er… that's one of our specialities," Misha mumbled while Jared just stared at him in horror. They were both disaster areas in the kitchen if something involved more than three ingredients and heat of any kind not including a microwave. Together, even the microwave was in danger.

"Meesh! What the hell?! Neither of us know the damn difference between plain and self-raising flour! I only know the different names because my mama made me go out and buy a bag of flour and didn't tell me which one to get!" Jared exclaimed, struggling and shoving at Misha while attempting to sit up. Misha shifted a little to allow Jared to move and looked at him with wide eyes.

Jared decided then and there that people with baby blue eyes were never allowed to make puppy dog eyes.

"Sure we can work it out! We're both intelligent enough to get into college! You're learning to read lots! I'm learning about different religions!"

"Eh?"

"Oh, yeah, I switched to Theology last week. Did I not tell you? Sorry. Still, back to flour. It's kinda obvious. One is self sufficient and never needed parents to raise it and the other one has self-esteem issues," Misha told him earnestly and Jared gaped at him before shoving him off his bed. Swinging his legs over to sit on the edge he glared at Misha when he looked at him pathetically from the floor.

"Those are not the differences. You know it, I know it and you learning about different religions is a horrific thought. Go and just… google a damn recipe for banoffee pie, see what ingredients we already have. I'll ring my mama," Jared muttered, dropping his face in his hands, just knowing something bad was going to happen.

"Right. Google. What's a banoffee?" Misha asked, stopping half off the floor to look at Jared in bafflement.

"No idea," Jared replied, having been wondering the same thing himself. Before something else struck him. "Where's everyone else?"

"Classes?"

"It's Saturday."

"Huh. Really? No clue then. They're not in. I say we make the most of it and not look a gift horse in the mouth," Misha told him with a shrug before he smirked at Jared and skipped out of the room.

Jared groaned, grabbed his phone and really hoped they didn't kill themselves or blow the kitchen up.

* * *

Turns out, banoffee was a strange combination of the words banana and toffee, which made Jared decide he was going to pass on actually tasting as he hated bananas. Toffeefied or not. His mama was highly amused when he said that he and Misha were going to attempt to make it and informed him that she would call Jensen for him to make sure his health insurance was up to date and covered everything. And then asked if Misha should possibly be covered by it as well.

Which made Jared dread it even more (and wonder when his mother got Jensen's phone number). However, he realised that he wouldn't be able to leave Misha hanging, as he never had been able to ever since he'd met the guy over a year and a half before. Really, he thought that he should probably see someone about that disturbingly Pavlovian response he had to Misha's wide-eyed look.

So he left his room after having gotten sorted for the day, sending Jensen a brief apologetic text for anything his mother said and a summons to come to the meal for six. He got a highly confused message in return but also an acceptance to the threat/invite and found Misha in the kitchen, covered head to toe in flour. He felt that set the bar for the rest of the day and things just got worse.

Six hours later they had everything almost sorted. They'd finally managed to make a pie base after realising what blind baking meant, and that the recipe didn't mean for them to include the dried beans in the pastry mix, and had decided to cook steak for the main course. They'd decided that, no matter how much they undercooked it, no one was going to die from E-coli or something equally as horrific. The same couldn't be said about the pie.

Another reason Jared wasn't going to eat it.

"Misha! Meesh! Where the he—" Jared huffed and decided that it'd be quicker to answer the door himself. He honestly had no idea where Misha had disappeared off to, but he guessed that it was probably Mark and Richard at the door. Early.

And that totally sucked because Jared had just put the sugar and condensed milk on to boil in order to make the pie filling.

"Misha!" Jared shouted, in a final attempt to find out where the man was, as he was almost positive he hadn't left the apartment. A small muffled bang from Misha's bedroom backed that theory up and Jared muttered under his breath before opening the door. He smiled widely when he saw Richard and Mark bitching at one another on the other side.

"Hey guys! Misha told me he'd told you to come over! I can't believe you actually believed him when he said we could cook but you kno—" Jared was interrupted by one almighty bang from the kitchen and just stood stock still in the doorway while Mark and Richard stared back at him with wide eyes. "Fuck."

"What the hell was that?" Mark asked while Misha ran, tripping and stumbling out of the hallway and into the main room, looking a little stunned. Which was completely understandable given his room shared a wall with the kitchen.

"What happened?! What happened?!" Misha asked with a shout of panic, then yelped when he fell over the coffee table and lay sprawled on the floor.

"I think you need to go into the kitchen," Richard pointed out calmly and Jared looked at him with wide eyes, nodded and then ran back to the kitchen. His whimper when he saw what had happened was audible from the outside hallway apparently. And apparently, Jensen had also arrived.

"What the hell happened in here? Jay? You alright? What is… is that sugar?!" Jensen asked, stepping up behind Jared and looking over his shoulder into the wreck that is the kitchen.

"Condensed milk," Jared mumbled, still feeling a little numb to everything.

"Shit! Jay! I think we need to call the landlord," Misha exclaimed, standing next to Jensen. Jared nodded numbly, staring mutely at the wrecked, twisted metal of the saucepan he had been boiling condensed milk in. Swallowing heavily, Jared took a shaky step into the kitchen and looked up at the ceiling, then whimpered again.

"He was right, Dickie. We never should have believed Misha when he said they could cook. Maybe cook up a bomb," Mark muttered, having apparently joined Jensen and Misha in the doorway along with Richard.

"Oh God," Jared whispered, not able to take his eyes off the set sugar on the ceiling. How the hell were they going to get that off?

"We need to leave. Now. Before Jason gets back. Jay, Jay we need to leave!!" Misha said, tugging on Jared's wrist urgently while Jensen just seemed horrified by what he was looking at and Mark was darkly amused. Richard was nowhere to be seen but Jared could hear him talking in the front room.

"What's Richard doing?" Jared asked, mentally wondering why his voice sounded so high, but not having the mental capacity to deal with it at that moment in time.

"He's ringin' your landlord. Figured he was meaner than both of you and I couldn't be arsed, before you even ask why I didn't do it," Mark told him when Jared opened his mouth to ask just that. He realised then what Misha was trying to say by his still frantic yanking of his wrist. Jensen now having taken to poking at the solidified sugar. Who knew condensed milk turned into sugar when added to a high heat?

"We really need to leave now," Jared agreed, looking to Misha when he gave a loud sigh of relief.

"Finally seeing my side of things! We'll leave a damned note! Tell them to just… not come in here. Jason might actually have some sort of mental fit or something. Attack of the vapours maybe," Misha said, glancing upwards to the mess that was the ceiling.

"I think I've been put off banoffee pie," Mark announced and Jared couldn't hold back the small hysterical giggle that broke out.

* * *

They finally dared to go back the next day, having hidden at Jensen and Mike's house. Jensen fussed over them both, flitting between amusement at their complete cooking disaster and horror over what could have happened had they been in there. Jared had experienced frantic, scared doctor sex for the first time in his life that night and was only glad that Misha hadn't been dragged into it as well. The state Jensen had gotten himself into by the time they'd gotten to his house, he probably wouldn't have noticed. And Misha certainly wouldn't have complained.

When they got back to the apartment, Jared walking a little tenderly, (really, Jensen was quite clingy when terrified out of his mind that someone he loved was almost killed in a very sugary way) and immediately wished they hadn't.

"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?!" Jared stopped in the doorway, causing Misha to walk into his back with an almost inaudible grunt. In front of him, Jason was standing there, rigid with fury, nostrils flaring and eyes wide. Jared worried about the guy's blood pressure for a second, before wondering if medical knowledge was an STD.

"Er… See… Look, the thing is. We're going to get it sorted. Seriously, we've got the money…" Jared trailed off, mentally thanking Richard and Mark for paying for the damage repair, apparently as payment for the hysterical outcome that they had been witness too. Jared considered that they should have stuck around to see Jason's reaction for even more amusement.

"Shut up! Just… just don't speak to me. I don't want to hear it anymore. You two are banned from the kitchen. I'm not joking! You could have killed someone! Think about what might have happened to the apartment?! I just—don't go in the kitchen at all now. Eat out or something," Jason told them. Misha made a small protesting sound but said nothing when Jared shot him a warning look over his shoulder. Jason gave one last glare in their direction and stormed out of the room.

Milo and Chad's reactions were far more amused by the whole thing and much more welcomed than Jason's insane rant had been. Perhaps smothering the crazy person in their sleep wasn't as illegal than if they were sane; Jared would have to ask Tom about that.

* * *

Jason's refusal to allow them into the kitchen, even to get something to drink or make breakfast, continued for several days until Misha snapped. And Jared, having been with Misha a lot over those days, especially when in the apartment, was the only witness to it.

"What is that?" Misha asked, in a forced calm voice, which made the hairs on the back of Jared's neck rise. He wondered if he should take a step back or nearer. He went with nearer just to see what had seemingly finally made Misha snap.

"Ah."

"It's a padlock. I saw you walking out of the kitchen last night, Misha! I told you not to go in there! Especially not alone! And at night?! We were all in and sleeping! What the hell would have happened if you'd blown something else up and set the place on fire?!" Jason asked, voice getting shrill at the end while Misha narrowed his eyes in a completely unimpressed expression.

"Yes, because a bottle of water is a highly explosive thing to have hanging around," Misha drawled sarcastically, making Jared snort in amusement. Jason flushed and glared at Misha.

"With you? Quite probably!" Jason yelled and Jared narrowed his eyes, wondering if he was going to have to step in. He wasn't too sure, he'd never actually witnessed Misha truly angry.

"This is getting ridiculous, Jason. I think you need some professional help with your OCD. It's becoming out of control, don't you think?" Misha asked. Jared gaped at Misha for a few seconds, before looking at Jason.

"What? My OCD? You mean, my need to not get some sort of disease by living in squalor like you would seemingly let us do? Well, you would if you didn't blow the damned place up," Jason muttered and Misha growled angrily and took a step forward.

"Meesh…" Jared trailed off and shrugged when Misha just shot him a warning look to stay out of it. Maybe Jason needed someone threatening him in order to get him to loosen up a little. Or he needed to get out of the damn library and get laid.

"Look, let us in the kitchen," Misha said calmly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No! Neither of you are allowed into the kitchen anymore!" Jason snapped at Misha, moving to stand in the way of the door as though to form a barrier there. Jared just rolled his eyes and moved to lean against the wall near the hallway to watch the two of them.

"You can't keep us out of there, Jason. We have basic human rights, don't know if you've ever heard of them, but I'm going to go with no. We have the right to have free access to the damn kitchen! We have to eat, we have to have access to water and such to drink!"

"You have the bathroom! Drink the water in there!"

"Move out of the fucking way, Jason before I use you as a fucking battering ram! I'm not joking! You've pushed me over the edge! This is fucking ridiculous! We pay the same amount of rent as you!" Misha yelled stepping forwards and making Jason take a step back and press himself against the kitchen door.

"No," Jason muttered. Jared wondered if he was just stupid or really stubborn. "You can't. Jared, tell him he can't." Stupid then.

"Why the fuck would I do that, Jason?" Jared asked him, completely dumbfounded that the guy thought Jared would take his part in this. Even Mike was getting ready to murder Jason himself if he didn't let the two in the kitchen soon enough, though Jared considered that that might be so he could have his own kitchen back. Jared wasn't going to stop him either.

"Look, I'm not kidding, Jason. I think I'm getting ready to slam your head repeatedly against the padlock to see which gives first, my opinion is your head. Want to take a guess?" Misha asked, taking another step forward. Jason paled while Jared wondered if he should step in sometime soon. Misha wasn't actually serious though, was he?

"It's not safe," Jason muttered and Jared cursed when Misha gave a muted scream of anger and launched himself at Jason. Pushing himself off of the wall, Jared moved forward to grab Misha away from Jason, who was shouting incoherently at them both and trying to prevent his brains being bashed out by the padlock.

"Just remove the damn lock, Jason!" Misha shouted, struggling against Jared when he finally managed to detach the two and dragged Misha back a little.

"You two are never in here anyway! You barely live here! I have no idea where you are, but when you are here, you bring different men in all the time like this is some sort of brothel! You don't need access to the kitchen!" Jason shouted and Jared gaped at him, before tightening his hold on Misha when Misha started to struggle even more.

"Did you just call us whores?! Who the hell do you think you are? And even if we were whores, THEY HAVE RIGHTS TOO!! Let us in the fucking kitchen! Jared, let me go! Let me KILL THE FUCKER!" Misha screamed, struggling and reaching out towards Jason. Jared grunted as he struggled to keep Misha away from Jason.

"Well it's true! I've seen four different guys and one of them looked old enough to be your father!" Jason yelled back, flinching slightly when Misha tried to get to him once more.

"Wait, is he talking about Mark? Shit, Jason, don't say that to his face. He'll rip you a new one without you even realising it before it's too late," Jared pointed out, voice coming out a little breathless given the fighting he was currently doing with Misha.

"Well, who are they? Who's this Mark?! Clients? Do they pay well?!"

"They fucking do, you jerk! Richard and Mark are my managers! They own the place I work at, you fuckwit! The other two, if you actually paid any fucking attention to anything that went on outside your germ free, freakishly clean world, then you'd know are Mike, Jared's oldest fucking friend and Jensen, Jared's fucking boyfriend, you utter fucking, self-absorbed moron!" Misha spat and Jared was actually a little impressed with his coherency.

"O-oh, really? I-I-Sorry, Jared," Jason mumbled. Jared wasn't sure how to respond, but felt Misha covered them both.

"Jared?! You're sorry about _Jared_?! How about you show how sorry you are to _both_ of us by opening the kitchen to us?" Misha asked, voice forcefully calm voice, making Jason flinch. He did, however, apparently get the message and shakily unlocked the padlock and took it off the door. "Thank you."

Jared thought that it possibly would have come out a lot less threatening had he not still been being held back by Jared and had Misha not said it through gritted teeth. Judging by the slightly scared look Jason shot them, he agreed with Jared's thoughts.

* * *

Milo and Chad were highly curious as to why Jason made sure never to be left alone in a room with Misha and flinched whenever Misha's attention was actually on the man. They left it alone however, when Jason just shakily informed them that Misha wasn't someone to cross when angry. Jared stayed amused by the whole thing, but certainly made sure Misha and Jason weren't left alone.

* * *

  


* * *

Note Nineteen

_'Whomever has been using my mouthwash should know that when I'm drunk, I sometimes spit back into the bottle.  
HA!!'  
-Jason_

Jared snorted in amusement when he saw the note that morning, before cringing and wrinkling his nose in disgust. Really? That was really kind of disgusting. Still, he wasn't going to say anything. At all. He really didn't want to speak to Jason right now. Even a week on, he flinched whenever he saw Misha. Which was amusing, but also made Jared and Misha remember _why_ exactly he flinched.

The amusing thing was that when he had locked Jared and Misha out of the kitchen, he had made it so that they couldn't get anyone in there anyways. So the kitchen was only just starting to look less like a disaster zone and more like it should do now. And really, it would have been finished much sooner if Jason wasn't such a giant dick.

He walked out of the bathroom once he was finished and made his way to the kitchen, noticing both Chad and Misha in there, both seemingly hugging a mug of coffee.

"Seen the new note?" Jared asked, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and sitting down at the table. Somehow, making people their coffees and being scorned at for not making it right most of the time nearly every day slowly decreased his love of coffee. Which wasn't really high in the first place.

"Yep. I think we should slip some arsenic in it. Watch the bastard spit that back out," Misha muttered darkly, looking into his coffee mug and missing Chad's startled expression at that announcement.

"That's a joke right?" Chad asked, voice slightly higher pitched than normal, and making Jared and Misha look up at him curiously.

"Er… yeah. It's a joke. Why?" Misha asked, stirring his coffee absently with his index finger and pinning Chad with an inquisitive look.

"Because! Er…" Chad trailed off and Jared glanced over at Misha to see if he had any idea what had Chad so antsy, though he had an idea if he went by the note. Snickering, he turned his attention back to Chad after Misha shot Jared a sly smirk.

"It wouldn't affect you anyway, Jay would be the one I'd ask to hide the body if it came to that!" Misha told him, grinning when Chad just gaped at him and Jared chuckled and shook his head.

"Nah, Meesh. Jensen! He can maybe fudge the results or something. We'll be fine! He can make it look like an allergic reaction!" Jared told him and Misha looked at him blankly for a second, then snorted.

"Well, arsenic is highly allergic for everyone," Misha agreed with a smirk on his face. They were soon interrupted by Chad whining and dropping his head on the table.

"It was me. I'm the one that has been using his mouthwash. What? It gets rid of the taste of vomit!" Chad exclaimed, clearly thinking that excused him, though it actually made Jared wrinkle his nose in disgust.

"That's really quite disgusting. And with that, I'm going to go to my classes, you working later, Jay?" Misha asked, standing up from the table and taking his mug to the sink, looking at Jared over his shoulder. Jared looked at him and pouted, nodding his head.

"Yeah. Got classes this morning, and then I'm working the close. Finish at seven. You?"

"Nope. We have been summoned to the bar though, so we shall go there after you've finished! Excellent! Chad, I'll cut off your balls if you try to get rid of your vomitty tasting breath with anything of mine. See you later, Jay!" Misha told them cheerfully, walking out of the kitchen and leaving Chad and Jared sitting at the table in a slightly stunned silence.

"Huh. Told me," Chad muttered. Jared felt the only response to that was to nod.

* * *

Misha kept to his word and was in Café Sol as soon as it was nearing time to close, and then helped Jared and Genevieve clean everything away and close up the place properly.

Two hours later and he and Misha had been greeted by a widely smiling Aldis, who apparently had gotten a lot more comfortable as a doorman now that he only had to wear a collar if he wished, but could pass himself off as a scary ass dom if he felt he'd succeed in that too. As a doorman, Aldis decided to go with the dom side of things. Which Jared actually thought he was kinda good at. Certainly looked much more comfortable in that setting at least.

"Any idea why we've been summoned?" Jared asked Misha as they made their way to the bar, Jared tugging slightly on the collar he was wearing, having decided to go with the one Mark had bought him, given the man was apparently going to be there. He got a little moody when Jared wore a plain one in his presence. Both amusing and disturbing for Jared whenever he witnessed it. It was certainly disturbing enough for Jared to make sure he wore the pink gold collar whenever he knew Mark would definitely be there.

"Nope. Just told us to come if we were both free. And we are, so we did," Misha told him cheerfully, playing with the leash attached to his own collar. When Jared had asked why he was wearing a leash as well, Misha claimed that the collar looked lonely without it.

"Huh." Jared smiled when they reached the bar and were immediately greeted by Aston, who smiled widely at them. "Hey, Aston."

"Yo! So, what can I get you? Richard told us that you two would be coming in at some point tonight. He said to go to his office whenever you were ready. I think Mr. Sheppard is in there as well. Not too sure. Want a drink before you go in? Or to take with you?" Aston asked, pulling up two glasses and placing them on the bar in preparation for what they wished.

"Sure thing! Can I have an Acapulco Zombie please! Meesh?" Jared asked while Aston chuckled and shook his head.

"How is it that you convinced Richard to include that on the list anyway?" Aston asked as Misha looked over the list of cocktails available on the bar as though he didn't know them all by heart.

"I cannot give all my secrets away!" Jared told him with a wide smile, watching Aston make the cocktail, making an excited noise when he finished it and passed it over.

"Made your mind up, Meesh?"

"Yep! Can I have an Anal Cherry please?" Misha asked, retching slightly when he leant on the leash and strangled himself as he handed the menu over. Jared rolled his eyes and took a sip of his own drink while Aston chuckled and grabbed the drinks he'd need for Misha's.

"So what are you two in here for? Any idea what Richard wanted to speak to you about?" Aston asked them as he expertly made Misha's drink and handed it over, stabbing a straw in it as he did so.

"No clue. Shall we go find out?" Misha asked, looking at Jared, who just nodded his head as he sipped his drink.

"Probably a good idea if you did. Scary Dom Guy is eyeing Jay up. Clearly he hasn't noticed the collar. Or hasn't met Mark yet," Aston pointed out with a nod to a smirking man standing near a booth not far from them. Jared glanced over at him and shuddered, wrinkling his nose.

"Nah, he's met Mark. I think he's just stupid. Tried something on V Day, didn't even get in the door," Jared said with a grin, getting a chuckle from Aston, who then noticed another customer and wander over to serve them with one last wave to Jared and Misha. "Shall we go then? Before I actually have to ask Mark to defend my virtue?"

"Probably a good idea," Misha agreed and they both walked away from the bar, Jared batting Misha's hands away when he tried to tie the other end of the leash to Jared's collar. Really, Misha was a menace on his own, adding Jared to the mix was just asking for trouble.

They knocked on the door when they got to the office, which Jared hadn't actually ever been inside before, and walked in when Richard called them to enter. Inside, Richard was sitting behind a large desk, Mark sitting on the other side. Mark smirked when he noted that Jared was wearing his collar.

"Good collar choice, Pet," Mark said with a smirk and Jared rolled his eyes, grinning good-naturedly.

"Thanks, I'm quite fond of it!" Jared told him, smiling and then laughing when he saw Misha yanking his leash out of Richard's grasp. "So what did you want us here for? And where should I sit? I know technically this is private, but… I am wearing the collar," Jared said with a shrug, looking around the room before looking back at a shocked looking Mark.

"I think we've 'ad a bit of an affect on you, Jared. You're much more liberal than you were," Mark told him, chuckling when Jared felt himself blush a little. "But not that much of an affect. When you bringing your new partner? I need to see if I think he's good enough for you. And feel free to sit wherever you like," Mark told him as an after thought, apparently noticing that Jared was still standing awkwardly in the doorway while Misha had taken what seemed to be his usual seat in the window behind Richard.

Jared looked at the other chair in the room, then shrugged and moved to sit on the floor, leaning against Richard's desk, facing Mark with a smirk on his face.

"The floor's always more comfortable. So, why are we here?" Jared asked, looking over the desk to Richard when he snorted.

"Jay's got a point. Well, not about the floor. I got the most comfy spot in the room. But I would also like to know why we were summoned! And why Mark never seems to be working. I'd like to know that too," Misha added, looking ponderous and slightly confused. Mark snorted and shook his head while Richard leant back in his seat, smirking at nothing.

"Misha, I don't work Tuesdays, Thursdays or Sundays. It's Thursday. As for why you're here. Richard and I had an idea, Dickie?" Mark said looking over to Richard, who leaned forward in his chair once more and looked serious.

"Have either of you decided what you're going to do about living arrangements next year?" Richard asked them and Jared groaned because, no neither of them had even considered it beyond the fact that they definitely weren't living with Jason, Milo or Chad.

"Nope," Misha admitted, sounding just as depressed about it as Jared felt. Jared downed more of his drink and looked at Mark when he chuckled quietly and nudged Jared's thigh with his foot.

"We thought you hadn't. So we've decided to make you an offer," Mark told them once he had their attention. Jared looked at him curiously, trying not to get his hopes up that they were going to offer something he really hoped would be good.

"What kind of offer?"

"Mark and myself own an apartment. Three bedroom. Not far from here. Neither of us use it and we normally rent it out. No one is currently living there and yes, it's fully furbished. How would you feel renting it? Given who you are, the rent will be less than we normally charge. What do you think?" Richard asked them. Jared scrambled to his knees so he could look over the desk and see what Misha thought. Given the wide-eyed look he was getting, it was the same thing he was thinking.

"Really? Seriously, you'd let us live there? Who would have the third bedroom?" Jared asked, seeing as apparently Misha had appointed him as their spokesperson.

"Well, it'd be a spare room for anyone you wanted to visit. Family members and such. Unless you have an idea for someone else to live with you," Mark told them with a shrug.

"No! No, we er… no, we don't have any ideas of anyone we'd want to live with next year. Meesh?" Jared asked, looking over at Misha, who nodded his agreement with what Jared had said.

"So is that you agreeing to our offer?" Mark asked them and Jared once more glanced over at Misha before turning to Mark with a wide smile.

"Do you honestly think we'd give that kind of offer up? Thank you so much, you guys!" Jared told them and Richard chuckled.

"Well, in that case, you can move in whenever you like. Obviously we'll have to get you both to sign a couple of tenant agreements and such, but other than that, the place is yours," Richard told them. Jared actually felt like he had had a weight that he hadn't even realised was there, taken off his shoulders.

* * *

Five days later, Jared and Misha had the key to their new apartment, though they wouldn't officially move in until their lease with their current apartment was up. They had both started to move some of their smaller and less used items over to the apartment already however. And decided that they could hide out there when things in the apartment became a little too much. Well, if they weren't working or at Jensen and Mike's that was.

However, now Jared felt they should at least tell Chad. Well, he should at the very least. Chad had been his closest friend in High School, ditching him would just be a completely shit thing to do.

"Chad, dude, I need to tell you something," Jared said, finally managing to catch Chad in the kitchen before class a few days after he'd made his decision to tell him. Misha had agreed with him, and had he been there, probably would have stayed.

"S'up, Jay? You alright?" Chad asked him, watching as Jared sat across from him at the small table, placing his bowl of cereal on the table.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just, well, next year, me and Meesh are going to be moving out of here. We can't deal with Jason anymore and well, I think Misha might actually kill him if forced to live with him for another year. I just thought I should tell you," Jared said, deciding to just tell him straight off and not beat around the bush.

"Huh. That's… that kinda sucks a little, but I can understand why. Sorry that we won't be living together, Padageeki," Chad told him, shooting a small grin at him, which Jared returned.

"Doesn't mean you'll get rid of me that easy, we'll still go out and get drunk together!" Jared told him, and Chad’s smile got wider and a touch more genuine.

"Hell yeah, we will!"

* * *

"This is one hell of a place, Jaybee!" Mike exclaimed, looking around after having placed Misha's mini fridge on the floor next to the large, plush leather sofa. He threw himself down onto it with a groan. "Very nice."

"Cheers, are you just going to sit there? I've still got three boxes of books to bring in and Misha has another two," Jared told him, holding one of the boxes in his hands. He also knew that Jensen had one of the boxes somewhere behind him.

"Sure, I'll go help Meesh out in a minute!" Mike replied and Jared just shook his head and carried his box to the bedroom he'd claimed as his own. Not the largest of the three, but the one that was most isolated, having only the bathroom on one side and nothing on the other side. Misha had taken the largest room, which also had an en-suite.

"Mike's right. This is a nice place." Jared turned around and smiled at Jensen, taking the box from him and placing it on the unmade bed. He stepped up and wrapped his arms around Jensen's waist, tugging him closer.

"Nicer bed as well," Jared told him with a sly grin, moving his hands under Jensen's shirt and tucking them under the waist of his jeans. Jensen chuckled and moved his hands on Jared's hips, pressing his face into Jared's neck and kissing his jaw. Jared tilted his head back to give Jensen better access and his breath hitched when Jensen nipped at the sensitive skin over his collarbone.

"Oi! You said we had work to do! That means no sex for any of us!" Mike yelled, making Jared jump and Jensen pull away with a chuckle. He leaned up and pressed a quick but deep kiss to his lips that left Jared panting slightly.

"Jen…" Jared moaned, before he reluctantly removed his hands from Jensen's waist and huffed, shooting Mike a glare that just got him a loud laugh that echoed as Mike walked back to the living room.

"Come on, Jay. We can go back to mine after we've finished with the last of the boxes. Why are you bringing this stuff here now anyway? I thought your lease wasn't up for another two months at least," Jensen asked him, linking their fingers and tugging him from the room, giving Jared no choice but to follow.

"We decided to bring over everything that we didn't need yet or anymore. Just keep the bare minimum at the house and then it won't be that hard to, you know, make a break for it when our lease actually is up. Or if Misha snaps and kills Jason. Did I talk to you about that, by the way?"

"Killing Jason? No, I don't think the Hippocratic Oath meant for me to help you kill someone when it said to help others," Jensen informed him and Jared snorted, moving to wrap his arms around Jensen's waist as they slowly made their way out of the apartment and back down to Jensen's car.

"Ah, no, but how about helping us cover it up. Let me fill you in on the plan. Do you have access to the morgue and the pathologist's reports?"


	13. Interlude Three

Interlude 3

«Misha just introduced me to voyeurism and orgies. Dude, you have to get Jaybee to bring you here.» \- _Mike to Jensen_  
«Mike's insane. Richard loves him and I think they're considering having a threesome with me. Mark may watch.» \- _Misha to Jared_

Jared was amused when Misha had told him that he would be taking Mike to Asylum on his next night off, not actually considering what the hell that would do to Mike. It would be akin to taking a child to a house made of candy and telling it that there were no consequences and no wicked witch waiting to cook them. He wasn't sure how one would over-indulge in a fetish bar, but Mike would certainly find a way.

However, given what hours Misha worked and that he hadn't actually had a night off since the one night they'd been summoned there, Jared had no idea when that was going to be and had forgotten about it. Thus he'd forgotten to mention it to Jensen.

Which was why he was a little startled when his phone vibrated in his pocket with a message at the same time as Jensen's phone beeped with a new message. Groaning when Jensen pulled away from where he'd been kissing Jared, hands moving slowly down Jared's body and nearer to where Jared wanted them. Huffing, Jared leaned up from the couch slightly and tugged his phone from his pocket.

"You never told me that Misha was taking Mike to Asylum. How come you haven't taken me yet?" Jensen asked him, the smirk on his face making Jared give a small sigh of relief that Jensen didn't seem truly upset about it.

"I actually forgot about Misha's plan. Wanna go tonight? Mark did tell me that he wanted to meet you and that I should bring you along soon. Looks like he's there, judging by Misha's message," Jared told him, grinning when Jensen's eyes darkened a little and he then nodded his head.

"Could be amusing. We need to wear anything specific to be let in?" Jensen asked, standing up from where he'd been straddled over Jared's legs, and holding out a hand to help Jared stand.

"Um… not really. But I'll wear a collar and leash so we're both left alone. Just get cleaned up a little and we should be set to go," Jared told him, not moving from where he'd stood up flush against Jensen, looking down at him slightly and feeling his breath brush over his skin.

"We need to stop at your place on the way then, to grab a collar?" Jensen asked him, voice rough with want as he placed his hands on Jared's hips and rubbed his thumbs against the skin just above his jeans.

"Well, I have a collar in my bag, but I do need to grab something from my place, so yeah, we should do that. Come on, let's 'Dom' you up," Jared said, eyes glazing a little at the thought, before shaking his head and leading an amused Jensen to his room.

"'Dom' me up? You need to hang out with Misha a little less if you're starting to talk like him," Jensen told him with a chuckle. Jared glared at him over his shoulder before tugging Jensen into his bedroom and pulling at his shirt.

"All good subs learn to dress their doms, shall we start now?" Jared asked, dropping to his knees in front of Jensen, and mentally smirking when Jensen had to swallow heavily a couple of times before he seemed to be able to answer.

* * *

It took Jared and Jensen over an hour to get ready and stop at Jared's apartment to grab what he'd need, before they were finally at the Asylum. They invited Danneel along as well, since Jared felt she'd possibly be in her element there, and may like him a little more if he introduced her to Aldis. Jared was taken, not blind; he saw how hot Aldis was. She'd taken up the offer eagerly and had been dressed like she was born to dominate over the male population when they had stopped at her apartment to pick her up.

Once Jensen parked the car in the employee carpark, Jared telling him the code to do so and reassuring him that the car would most definitely be safe there should they have to get a cab back, Jared clipped the leash to his plain black leather collar, grabbed the small box he'd shoved in the glove box and then handed the other end of the leash to Jensen. Danneel watched them silently, then fanned herself with a smirk.

"I get to watch you two play Master and Slave all night? This is the best night ever, Jared, I may have to give you a raise for this," Danneel informed him with a salacious wink that made Jared grin and Jensen burst out laughing, shaking his head at them both.

"Come on, Danni, don't be touching my sub," Jensen told Danneel before giving the leash a tug and kissing Jared deeply. He pulled back with a smirk and then looked at Jared with a raised eyebrow. "So, where to?"

"Follow the music," Jared told them, turning and leading the way to the entrance. He ignored the fairly long line of people waiting to get inside and heading straight to the doorman, grinning widely when he saw it was Aldis. "Aldis! Good to see you working tonight! You on the main entrance all night?"

"Hey, Jared! Didn't know you were coming tonight," Aldis greeted, ignoring the glares and hissed comments when he opened the door for the three of them to enter. "And I'm working the doors to room five later on."

"Five? That BF tonight?" Jared asked, nose wrinkling a little. He'd never seen how people could be turned on by body fluids of any kind. It sort of grossed him out a little.

"Unfortunately. Me and Jamie drew the short straw. I'm going to assume this is the mysterious Jensen?" Aldis asked, looking at Jensen and grinning when Jared nodded. He then turned to look at Danneel and his eyes widened. "Who's your other friend, Jared?"

"Ah, Aldis, this is Danneel. Danneel, meet Aldis," Jared said, grinning when Jensen looked at him and rolled his eyes.

"Pleasure," Aldis said, smiling widely at Danneel, who just smirked back at him, then looked at Jared with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, right, well, we're gonna head on in. Maybe talk to you later," Jared said as he pushed open the door and stepped aside to let Danneel and Jensen enter before him, before he followed closely behind Jensen. Scary, dense Dom-guy might be there and he didn’t, apparently, seem to understand the unspoken rules about claimed subs.

Using his height to his advantage, Jared looked over the heads of the people already inside and smiled when he saw Richard and Mark standing at the far end of the bar, nearer to the specialist rooms. He didn't see Misha or Mike anywhere, but he guessed that they may be in one of the rooms if he went by the messages he and Jensen had been sent.

Tugging at the chain in Jensen's hand a little, he motioned with his head the direction to walk in. Jensen nodded at him, reaching back to stroke a finger down Jared's throat. He turned back, nudged Danneel and started to lead them to the bar. As soon as he saw Mark and Richard, Jensen smiled and led the way over to them.

"Well, well, Dickie! Look who we have here! Jared's finally bought Jensen to us," Mark exclaimed as soon as he saw the three heading towards him. Richard quickly turned around and smiled brightly when he saw them.

"Jay! Good to see you! And nice to meet you again, Jensen," Richard greeted them, looking from Danneel to Jared with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Richard, Mark, this is Danneel Harris, my boss at Café Sol and a good friend of Jensen's. Danneel, this is Richard Speight and Mark Sheppard, they own this place and another club further in town."

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Harris," Mark told her, smirking and placing a kiss to the back of her hand when he she offered it to him, getting a giggle from her and shocking both Jared and Jensen when she blushed.

"Please, call me Danneel. This is a lovely place. I'm glad Jared brought me here too. I'm definitely going to be giving him a raise," Danneel added with a mutter as she looked around, eyes lingering on someone occasionally as she looked by them.

"Mark, um… Meesh explained a few things that you might appreciate for when you met Jen. Here," Jared said, handing the velvet box over, catching a glimpse of Mark's shocked face as he took it, clearly knowing what was inside it. Jared then glanced at the confused Jensen and gently tugged the leash out of his hands, kissing him on the cheek when he looked at Jared in confusion. "You'll understand in a minute."

Jared turned back to Mark and handed him the leash. He noticed that Richard and Danneel were now watching the three with interest while a couple of bystanders were also watching. Some clearly knowing what was going on, and/or knowing just who Mark was, going by the shock on their faces.

"You want Jensen to be your new Dom, Jared? You are happy with this choice? Happy that he'll be able to see to your needs?" Mark asked him, having snapped out of his shock as soon as the leash was placed in his hands. Jared glanced to the side at Jensen and saw a look of realisation on his face. Looking back at Mark, Jared nodded.

"Yeah, I think he will," Jared said, smiling widely when Mark just smirked at him, opening the box and taking the expensive, custom-made collar out.

"I accept your decision then," Mark told him and then shocked Jared by turning to face Jensen and, not only handing over the leash, but also the collar. "Don't look at me like that! I had that made for you. I ain't met anyone else your size, that collar is yours, Jared. It's up to Jensen now, when you wear it."

"I… thanks, Mark," Jared said, smiling at him widely, then turning to Jensen who was still looking a little stunned at the proceedings and was staring that the two items in his hands. Danneel snorted and turned to start a conversation with Richard, apparently now finding them boring. "Jen?"

"Huh… so… I now own you?" Jensen asked, finally looking up at Jared and smiling a little. Jared grinned back at him and then leered.

"Yep. I am yours to do with whatever you wish," Jared told him. He made a surprised noise in the back of his throat when Jensen tugged on his leash and kissed him forcefully, pressing him back against the bar and running his tongue over Jared's lips, pushing it into his mouth when Jared opened it with a moan. Jared finally got himself together enough to move his hands so one was gripping at Jensen's hair and the other was running up and down Jensen's back.

Jensen pulled back, nipping at Jared's bottom lip and laving his tongue over it in an attempt to sooth it. Jared blinked to look at Jensen, breathing a little heavier than before, and smiled.

"Want to start with bondage?" Jared asked breathlessly. Jensen smirked at him and nodded, which made Jared looked past him to where Mark and Richard were talking about something; Danneel nowhere to be seen. "Where's Danni?"

"She went to talk to Aldis when he came in for his shift on the door to Room Five," Richard told him, acting like he and Mark hadn't just been watching Jensen molest him in front of them, like he so knew they had.

"Right. Is Room Eight free?" Jared asked Richard lightly, and Jensen chuckled, muffling it by pressing his face into Jared's neck, licking the skin below the collar.

"It can be. You want to privately use it?" Richard asked him, grinning at them both while Jared tried to force himself not to blush, knowing he was failing miserably.

"Please?"

"I'll go get it sorted for you then," Richard told him with a smirk, walking off into the crowds in the direction of Room Eight.

"Tell Richard I went to his office, I'll leave you two alone. Have a fun night," Mark told them, chuckling when Jared weakly smiled at him, and turned and walked off.

"Want to get a drink while we wait for Richard to get back? It might take a while," Jared asked Jensen, leaning back to look at him. Jensen stepped back slightly, but didn't remove his hands from where they were on Jared's body.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Jared smiled at him and turned to wave down the nearest bartender, Lacey. Thankfully she knew Jared and thus didn't even consider charging him for the drinks. There really were bonuses to being good friends with the owners of the bar.

* * *

Jared closed the door behind them, swallowing nervously. He looked at Jensen, smiling when he saw Jensen looked just as, if not more, nervous than Jared. Which, Jared mentally conceded, was fair given this was Jensen's first time in Asylum at all, never mind his first time using a room there.

Casting a quick glance around the room and noticing several different places for someone to be tied down (or up, in the case of against the wall), Jared stepped up to Jensen, pressed a kiss to his lips before taking a step back and looking at Jensen searchingly.

"Where do you want me?" Jared asked. Jensen swallowed, licked his lips and looked around the room. He turned back to Jared with a wicked smile, looking a little more at ease about it all.

"The bed," Jensen told him, leading him by his leash to the large bed against the wall to their right, and pushing gently at Jared to lie down. Jared moved on the bed so he was lying in the center of it and his breath hitched when Jensen moved to straddle his chest, smirking down at him. "Arms up, Jay."

Jared looked at Jensen and moved his arms so that they were up over his head. He took his eyes away from where they were locked on Jensen's and watched as Jensen let his leash rest on his chest, slowly cuffing each hand to the wall above the headboard, dragging his fingers down Jared's arms slowly once he was done. Jensen moved backwards down Jared's chest, unbuttoning Jared's shirt and pressing a kiss to Jared's lips when he was finished. He climbed off of him and then the bed.

"Jen?" Jared asked, testing the cuffs restraining him before looking to where Jensen was watching him with dark eyes. When he saw that Jared's attention was on him, Jensen slowly unbuttoned the shirt he was wearing and let it fall off his shoulders to the floor. He licked his lips and smirked, torturously slowly opening the top button on his jeans. Jared yanked at his restraints and groaned when they didn't give, not that he really expected them to.

"Shh," Jensen soothed, moving to run a hand over Jared's chest before he pulled back and moved to the bottom of the bed. Jared was then made to go through the torture of Jensen slowly taking Jared's boots off and stripping him of his jeans and boxers, leaving him in just his unbuttoned shirt.

After what felt like an age, Jensen moved back to stand at the side of the bed, kicking his own boots off and pushing his jeans and boxers off. Jared whimpered as he saw just how aroused Jensen was and tugged at the cuffs. He stopped struggling when Jensen climbed back on to the bed, however, sighing quietly when Jensen pressed a calming kiss to his lips.

Then Jensen moved to kneel between Jared's legs and looked up to lock eyes with Jared, rubbing his hands over Jared's thighs soothingly.

"Okay?"

"Yeah," Jared breathed out, arching slightly then Jensen's hands moved up his thighs and he left them resting on Jared's hips. Keeping eye contact with Jared, Jensen shifted and licked the head of Jared's erection, causing Jared to gasp, trying to force himself not to thrust up. Jensen pressed against his hips before lowering his head and taking Jared in as far as he could. "Jen!" Jared threw his head back, not able to thrust up due to Jensen's strong grip on his hips, and moaning at the intense heat of Jensen's mouth. He moaned loudly when Jensen started to move his head up, running his tongue over the tip and sucking. Jared could feel his toes beginning to curl in pleasure as Jensen bobbed his head up and down Jared's erection. "Jen! Jen, please!"

Jensen paused and looked up through his lashes at Jared. He flicked his tongue over the head and made Jared shout out his name when he swallowed Jared down, before pulling up and increasing the speed as he bobbed his head, sucking Jared harder and used his tongue to drive Jared insane. "Jen… Jense—" Jared threw his head back with a wordless cry, tugging on his restraints as his climax rocked through him and Jensen swallowed all of his release down. He pulled away from Jared's now flaccid penis, licking it and moving up Jared's body to press a sharp kiss to his lips. Jared moaned as he ran his tongue around Jensen's mouth, tasting himself.

Still kissing Jared, Jensen gently moved Jared's legs further apart and rubbed the hand that wasn't holding him up over Jared, along Jared's inner-thigh. Jared whimpered and moaned into the kiss when Jensen brushed over his entrance. Jared pulled back from the kiss as much as he could with a gasp, moving his legs even more and blinked in confusion when Jensen pulled away. He glanced to the side to see Jensen leaning over the side of the bed. Not a minute later he moved back between Jared's legs, putting a condom and some lube on the bed next to them.

Jared watched through hooded eyes as Jensen uncapped the lube and covered his fingers before he pressed a kiss to Jared's thigh and rubbed a finger over his entrance, pushing in. Jared's breath hitched and he pushed down against the finger, penis twitching in an attempt to become erect once more. A couple of minutes later Jensen added a second finger and began to scissor them, stretching Jared and kissing his thighs and semi-erect penis. Jared was fully erect and moaning by the time Jensen added a third finger, finding his prostate and pressing against it. Jared arched off the bed with a cry, pushing down to try and get Jensen's fingers in deeper.

"Jensen! Jen, enough! Please! I'm ready. I need—Jen!" Jared cried out, breathing heavily as he writhed on the bed when Jensen chuckled and brushed against his prostate again before removing his fingers.

"Okay, Jay," Jensen said softly, kissing Jared's knee when he moaned at the empty feeling left behind. Jensen quickly put the condom on, covering his erection in lube and moving to lie over Jared. He kissed him deeply, guiding his erection into Jared. Jared groaned in pleasure and moved to wrap a leg around Jensen's waist. He tugged at the cuffs, moaning loudly as Jensen's thrusts started to get faster and harder. "Jay. Fuck, Jay."

Jared moved with Jensen, digging his heel into Jensen's lower back urging him faster, deeper. He arched up even more into Jensen when he hit his prostate at the same time as biting down on his neck. "Jensen. Please. Deeper. Need you," Jared gasped out, wishing he could touch Jensen.

"God, Jay," Jensen groaned, moving his hand to wrap around Jared's erection, pumping in time with his thrusts. "Jay, gonna come. Want to feel you come with me in you."

Jared gasped, head falling back against the pillow as Jensen's words just increased his pleasure and he could feel his orgasm rising for the second time that night. "Jen! Jen, please, need…" Jared trailed off as he tugged at his restraints instead. Jensen shook his head and increased his thrusts and the pressed a kiss to Jared's neck.

"Come for me, Jay," Jensen whispered, and Jared arched up, crying out as his climax washed over him almost painfully. Distantly he felt Jensen slam into him as he cried out his own release, before slumping down on Jared, both breathing heavily.

"Jen…" Jared whispered, weakly giving his restraints a tug. Jensen kissed his neck, before he shifted, pulling out of Jared gently and depositing the condom in the bin next to the bed. He reached above Jared and undid the cuffs, rubbing Jared's arms as he gently lowered them to the bed and pressed a slow, lazy kiss to Jared's lips.

"Love you, Jay," Jensen whispered, making Jared's breath stick in his throat as he stared at Jensen in shock. He surged up to press a frantic kiss to Jensen's lips, running his hands over every inch of Jensen's body that he could reach, before pulling back and nuzzling into Jensen's throat.

"I love you too, Jen. Now, wanna get out of here and face the mocking of Richard and Mark?" Jared asked, pressing tiny butterfly kisses to the skin next to his lips. Jensen hummed in sleepy pleasure, running a hand through Jared's hair and then tugging on the leash that Jared had forgotten about.

"Let's get dressed and face the music. We're definitely coming back here again, Jay," Jensen told him with a smirk, kissing him deeply and pulling away so they could get dressed. Jared smiled at him and he just knew he had a love-struck look on his face. Not that he cared.


	14. Chapter 14

Note Twenty

_'Has Misha moved out or has he died and no one noticed?'  
\- Milo_

Jared had no clue how to deal with the new note, or where it came from when he found it on the new notice board three weeks after Jared had first taken Jensen to Asylum. They had since been back six times, well together. Jared had been there alone almost every night since then. Which was possibly the cause of the note; Misha had been working a lot of hours at Asylum. And when he wasn't, he was either locked in his room studying or at the library or Mike's house. But Jared figured he spent the same amount of time, if not less than Misha, in the apartment.

Still staring at the note in confusion, he jumped slightly when Milo stepped up next to him and looked at what he was reading.

"Is he alive? Moved out? You're the one most likely to know," Milo pointed out calmly and Jared just stared at him like he was insane, because really, he did sound a little unbalanced.

"You think I wouldn't have mentioned a tiny thing like Misha dying?" Jared asked him and Milo flushed but shrugged.

"Dunno. I mean, where is he? I haven't seen him for over a week."

"He's been working a lot. Like myself, and Jason. You know, we need jobs so we can eat? What the hell else made you think this?" Jared asked him. Milo shrugged again, clearly feeling a little embarrassed about the whole thing.

"His room’s kinda empty too. Not much in there. Like he's just slowly moving out or something," Milo told him and Jared felt it prudent not to point out that his room was just as empty as Misha's was. And that the reason for it was because they _were_ slowly moving out.

"And so you thought he was dead. Huh. You know, asking someone would have made more sense, and come across as more concerned than a note on the back of a receipt," Jared pointed out, turning around and going back to his room.

He really didn't want to deal with them anymore. Really. Besides, finals were just on the horizon and he needed to study. He figured he'd concentrate on them and just ignore all the shit going on in the apartment. Though he really wasn't looking forward to telling Milo and Jason that they wouldn't be taking up the lease with this apartment for a second year. Chad seemed to have accepted it since Jared had told him, and had even been over to the apartment when he had helped them take a couple of small things over.

Jason and Milo, however, were not as accepting or laid back as Chad was. Well, Jason wasn't at least.

* * *

_'Why is there a kettle in the cupboard?'_

A week later and Jared's finals were looming ever closer, thus meaning that he hardly got time to see Jensen at all, and only got to see Misha when he felt he'd studied enough and decided to hide out at the Asylum. Though he also spent an equal amount of time hiding in Dreaded Fairies and getting to know Mark more. Surprisingly, he actually had a lot more in common with Mark than he did with Richard and spent quite a few nights in Dreaded Fairies, just talking to Mark about their favorite books. Jared thought he had died and gone to heaven when Mark showed him his library in the adjoining room to his office at the bar.

So when Jared wasn't studying and reading in Mark's library, or with Jensen or Misha, he was in the apartment, also studying. But he hardly ever got anything done when he was there because the atmosphere in the house was beginning to get a touch tense as everyone started to stress over their own looming exams.

Which was how he explained away the new note, though who put it in there and what the hell they were thinking when they did it, he had no clue. It was a little amusing actually. But the notes then got worse. And really, Jared wondered what the hell was going on with his housemates.

_'You know, that I know that you know that I know that you took it… So give it back!'_

Jared didn't want to know. He really didn't. Alright, he sort of wanted to know what the elusive item that remained unnamed actually was, but other than that? He didn't want to know. Which was why he shoved most of his clothes into a bag, grabbed the books and folders that he'd need and moved out of the apartment for the time during his exams.

He'd decided to move into his and Misha's apartment. He would still pay the rent for the remaining month so that he didn’t break the contract with his last landlord. But he honestly thought that if he stayed in that place any longer, he was at risk of snapping completely and killing them all.

Entering the apartment, he was shocked to find Misha sitting in the front room with Mike, both watching TV, though Jared noticed they also had books and notebooks around them as well.

"Hey guys. Didn't know you were over here, Meesh," Jared said, dropping his bag by the free chair and moving to sit in it. Misha smiled at him widely while Mike grinned and waved in greeting before going back to watching the TV.

"Yeah, I came here to study this morning, invited Mike over to join me about two hours ago. You doing alright?" Misha asked. Jared shrugged, yawning widely as his lack of sleep caught up with him.

"I'm moving in here for the time being. I don't think I can stay at that place much more. I mean, I'll probably go back every so often, because I haven't brought all my clothes and stuff. But for the next week at least? I refuse to go back there," Jared muttered, yawning again, then sighing and sitting up properly. He dragged his bag onto his lap and dug through it for his notes on his next exam.

"Might join you," Misha commented, looking back down at his own notes. There was silence broken only by the occasional scratch of a pen against paper and the TV in the background. It was interrupted by Misha about ten minutes later. "Do you have any idea what 'it' was?"

* * *

_'Milo, buy poison  
(for ~~Jason~~ ants)  
Chad'_

Jared went back to the apartment straight after his last exam, needing to get some more clothes and to try and speak to Milo and Jason, or one of them at least, about not moving in next year. Misha agreed to meet him there after his own exam for the day finished, though he didn't know when that was going to be. He was, therefore, surprised (but not overly so) to walk into what seemed like a war zone, with Misha standing off to the side, holding a note and watching it all with wide eyes. Jared also suspected that he looked a little amused by everything as well.

Walking over to Misha, he looked at him curiously and only got the note handed to him as a response. Reading it, he snorted in amusement, which was apparently the wrong thing to do.

"Oh, look! It's Jared! Let me guess, you were in on this as well? It does seem like something you would do! Don't think I've forgotten last year’s note about the mugs! I know it was you, Jared!" Jason snapped, immediately spinning to glare at the sound of Jared’s snort. Jared just stared at him with wide eyes, completely shocked and a little confused by everything.

"Er… I'm sorry, but what? What have I supposedly done now?" Jared asked. He tried to keep his anger down, knowing that a majority of it was caused by lack of sleep and stress. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Jason, seeing Milo and Chad looking equally as confused Jared felt.

"You've read the note! Are you trying to tell me that you had nothing to do with it?" Jason asked him, the look on his face telling Jared that he wouldn't believe him if he did, and Jared sighed heavily, glaring back at Jason.

"I had nothing to do with the damn note. Don't know if you've noticed, Jason, but I haven't been here for nearly two weeks," Jared pointed out, letting his bag drop off his shoulder when he realised that this was going to take a while.

"Oh please! Where have you been then? Your boyfriend’s? Really? He let you hang around for two weeks and didn't get fed up with you?" Jason asked with a roll of his eyes and a scoff, and Jared really wondered what Jason had against either himself or Jensen. Or their relationship possibly.

"Jensen probably wouldn't have cared, but he's been busy himself these past couple of weeks, so no. I wasn't at Jensen's. Actually, you know what, this gives me the perfect opportunity to tell you something," Jared said, glancing to the side when he saw Misha step up next to him, realising what it was Jared was going to tell them.

"What is that exactly?" Jason asked him, crossing his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow at them. Jared half expected him to tap his foot as well and had to bite his cheek to stop himself from laughing.

"It's about next year. I'm not living here with you guys. I've got another place. _That's_ where I've been over the past two weeks," Jared told them, feeling a small sense of satisfaction when Jason gaped at him.

"I'm moving in with Jay. We're both leaving here at the end of semester. Quite frankly, you guys have driven us insane over the past year. Be lucky you weren't smothered in your sleep. I'm not kidding," Misha continued with a small shrug.

"What? What the hell does that mean?" Jason asked, and Milo nodded, moving to stand next to Jason. Chad just shook his head and sighed moving to the side so he wasn't dragged into it.

"The fucking notes! Come on! It's pathetic, it's annoying and it's all kinds of crazy! Why can't you just tell people what's bothering you like adults?!" Jared exploded, lack of sleep combining with Jason and Milo's ignorance over what they had done wrong finally making him snap.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Milo asked, frowning at him and Jared gaped at him.

"What does it sound like? You're pathetic little note war has driven us insane over this past year. Have you not noticed that me and Meesh barely spent any time here after the first month of living here? We couldn't take anymore pitiful bitching!" Jared shouted, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation that his point didn't seem to be making it across.

"Jay's right. We never knew what the fuck kind of war zone we'd be walking into whenever we woke up, or got in from work. So we just decided to combine our working hours so we'd spend as little time here as possible. It helped that Jay's close friend also lived nearby so we could hide out there when neither of us were working," Misha told them in a calm voice, which made tiny alarm bells ring in Jared's head, as he knew it was the calm before the storm with Misha.

"Oh right, so what? You two just decided to get a place together next year and not tell us? What if we'd made plans to sign on this place for a second year? How selfish are you to not tell us this?" Milo asked, and that was it for Jared. He couldn't actually believe what he was hearing.

"You are joking right? Why the hell would any of you want to spend another year together? You seemingly hate one another with all the damn notes!" Jared said, sounding just as shocked and confused as he felt.

"We don't hate each other. We're good friends. Why would we hate each other?" Jason asked, and Jared gaped, floundering for an answer for a few minutes, then shrugged and shook his head.

"No clue. Look, we weren't being selfish. If you were stupid enough to sign another lease on this place for next year, then you were the stupid and selfish ones for doing so without consulting either of us. You didn't even try," Jared pointed out calmly, feeling he was right to do so.

"How were we supposed to ask you if you weren't ever around? Really, this whole year you've been kinda selfish. You just used this place as somewhere to rest your head at night, expecting all of us to clean up after you!" Jason told him. Jared clenched his hands to stop himself from punching him. Grinding his teeth together, he glared at Jason and took a step forward, feeling no shame when he used his height to intimidate Jason.

"I never once expect you to clean up after me. I never complained about the notes, I didn't complain when you locked me and Meesh out of the kitchen, I didn't do much when you accused me of mocking you. I've done nothing to you, Jason. Nothing. In fact, I've kept out of your way. So don't accuse me of using you," Jared said, before he stepped back and picked up his bag. "You know what? I'm leaving. I'm moving out of here today. I'll pay the rest of my rent so I don't break the contract, but that's all I'm doing."

Jared then sent one last glare to a shocked Jason, smiled reassuringly at Misha as he passed him and walked out of the apartment. When the door closed behind him, he gave a sigh of relief and decided to speak to the landlord about him not living there next year.

* * *

Jared knocked on the door to the landlord's office and waited until he was called to enter. He poked his head around the door and smiled at the man sitting behind his desk.

"Hey, Jim. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Jared asked, walking in and over to other chair in the room when Jim nodded and motioned for him to come in.

"Of course, Mr. Padalecki. What can I do for you?" Jim asked him. Jared shifted uncomfortably, feeling his smile slip a little. He'd never actually had anything against Jim, in fact, he was actually a shockingly laid back landlord.

"It's about next year. I just thought I'd tell you that I won't be signing another lease for the year. I won't be living there next year, I'm afraid. Sorry if it's gonna cause you any inconvenience," Jared said, nibbling his lip as Jim's face had progressively darkened the more Jared spoke.

"Oh. Right. And you decided to tell me this now? It's pretty inconvenient to inform me of this now, don't you think? I now have an empty, or half empty apartment to fill. Thank you, Mr. Padalecki, for causing me a great inconvenience. I hope you're very happy with yourself." Jared blinked and gaped at the man, completely stunned at what he was hearing.

"It's not… I didn't do it deliberately! I can't live with those people anymore! Do you know what it's like living up there? Hell is more welcoming!" Jared exclaimed, but Jim wasn't giving and just glared at him.

"Given I will probably have to find someone to fill the place now, and you have given me such short notice. Add to the fact that I will have to redecorate the room that you inhabited, then I am going to have to ask you to leave by the end of June. You have broken the contract and be grateful that I am only asking you to leave early, and not to pay the rest the rent you owe me up front," Jim told him, and Jared sat there, feeling numb.

"June?"

"Yes, I want the room you have been staying in completely stripped and empty. You have until the thirtieth of June. I will expect you to be out by then."

"But that's next week!" Jared pointed out, and Jim just shrugged. "My college classes haven't even officially finished yet!"

"That is not my problem. My current problem is to now fill your room, and get it ready should I be lucky enough to do so. Eight days, Mr. Padalecki. I want you out in eight days at the latest," Jim repeated, his tone telling Jared that that was the end of that. Nodding mutely, Jared grabbed his bag and walked out of the office.

He could only be thankful that he had an apartment, or he would have been completely screwed. He was also lucky that he'd moved most of his things as well. He looked up to see Misha standing on the entrance hall, looking at him in concern.

"Jay?"

"I've got to leave by next Thursday. My room's got to be empty and I've got to be gone by then," Jared told him in a voice much more calm than he actually felt.

"Shit, Jay. Does that go for me as well?" Misha asked, nibbling on his lip. Jared shook his head.

"No, I didn't mention you. I would advise not telling him until the lease is pretty much up. I have no idea why he reacted like that though, do you?" Jared asked, allowed Misha to lead him out of the apartment block and down the street towards their new place.

"Ah, see, that I might have an idea about. It might also explain Milo's reaction to your announcement," Misha added, and Jared looked at him with a frown. "Milo seemed to have gotten it into his head that we were all willing to sign on for another year. He'd informed Jim of that decision and had all but signed a new contract. You were a little too close to the truth with your accusations earlier, I think."

"Meesh, our friends are fucking insane," Jared muttered and Misha nodded solemnly next to him.

"They really are. You going to call Jensen later?" Misha asked and Jared sighed, nodding.

"Yeah. Do you have work tonight?"

"Nope! Shall we get drunk at our new apartment then? Invite Mike and Jensen over, too?" Misha asked with a small laugh, linking his arm with Jared's.

"That sounds like an awesome idea."

* * *

  


* * *

Epilogue

Two weeks after Jared's deadline to move out of the house came to an end, and Jared was helping Misha move what little he had left in the now-emptier looking apartment. Apparently Chad had decided that he hadn't wanted to live there either, thus making Milo and Jason have to either find a new place for the next year, or find three people insane enough to want to move in with them.

Apparently, San Francisco was full to the brim with insane people as Jason informed them that they had indeed found some people to move in with them, much to their own and Jim's relief. So, Misha had moved out mid-July with the help of Jared.

Jared groaned as he put down the last box with Misha's computer inside of it, and what felt like about a million rocks as well, stretching his back with a sigh of relief when he felt it click. He turned to look at Misha when he placed a box of his clothes on the bed and smiled gratefully at Jared.

"So, time to vegetate on the couch and get over that gruelling three hours of moving?" Misha asked, getting a laugh from Jared.

"Totally!" Jared agreed, still chuckling as he followed Misha out of his room and to the front room. They both fell down on to the couch with a sigh of relief, and Misha leaned over to grab them both a bottle of beer from the mini fridge next to the couch.

"Here's to our new apartment!" Misha said, clinking the neck of his bottle against Jared's with a beaming smile on his face.

"Here, here!" Jared said, taking a deep sip of his drink before he turned to look at Misha. "So, what are you plans for summer?"

"Actually, I'm staying here for most of it. Maybe go back for a week or two at some point, but Richard's offered to let me work full time over the summer. What about you?" Misha asked, shifting to sit sideways on the couch to face Jared, hugging his leg to his chest.

"Same here. I'll be living here for most of the summer. Jensen and Mike are, too, so I figured I may as well. See if I can build up my account balance a little," Jared told him with a grin. "Danneel seemed pretty happy that I wasn't going to be quitting over the summer; Gen will be going back home over the summer, so I think she was grateful that she only has to find one replacement."

"Did she ever give you that raise for taking her to Asylum? I've seen her there quite a bit since that night," Misha told him with a very amused grin, and Jared laughed.

"She actually did! So that will help my plan to make money. But also, I got offered a job by Richard and Mark when I told Mark about my plans to stay over summer."

"Really? Doing what?" Misha asked with a wide, excited smile, leaning forward a little and making Jared snort at him in amusement.

"To work on the doors for both the bars. Mostly Dreaded Fairies, but also Asylum whenever they might need extra doormen there. Apparently, Richard wants me to be Mark's submissive slave for all the big events," Jared added, rolling his eyes when Misha cackled in delight.

"What does Jensen think of that?"

"He finds it hot. It helps that Mark told him that his job is to make me look thoroughly debauched before I head to work on those nights. Otherwise, I get to act like a scary dom when working for Asylum, or a normal doorman at Dreaded Fairies," Jared told him, snickering at the thought of him being a dom.

"Well, you have the height. So we're gonna be workmates, too! That's awesome. This summer is going to be brilliant. And this is going to be the greatest apartment ever," Misha said with a firm nod, like that solved everything and now that he had said it, it would be so.

"I agree. Just, maybe we should not do any experimental cooking or anything like that. I don't think Mark and Richard will find it quite so amusing if it's their property we blow up."

"Point. So no experimental cooking. Good plan. Know what else there shouldn't be?" Misha asked, and Jared grinned, knowing exactly what Misha was about to say. "No damn notes."

"Excellent rule. So, here's to our proper first night in the greatest, note-free, apartment ever," Jared said with a laugh, once more tapping his bottle neck against Misha's. He leaned against Misha's side with a satisfied sigh. "Next year’s going to be awesome."

"It really is. And I might actually stick with Theology as my major. It's really rather interesting," Misha added, and Jared just burst into laughter. He really did have high hopes that things for the following two years of his degree were going to be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, that truly was (admittedly loosely) based on my second year of university. The friend I based Misha and Jared around is still one of my close friends, though we both moved out as soon as we possibly could (not together, like Jared and Misha, and the guy I based Richard on neither had his own Mark nor a spare flat he could give me). Unsurprisingly, the other three people we lived with, neither me nor my friend have much contact with. Though every year on the anniversary of our graduation, we collaborate to send them all a 'how are things' card... made out of post it notes and card. *cackles*
> 
> So, similiarities? Misha and Jared were based on both myself and my flatmate in equal measure. I was the on that worked at the bar (not called The Asylum), my friend worked in a coffeshop (which was called Cafe Sol). I also had a job at the local cinema, wherein I wrote most of my essays during my final two years in Screen Four. In fact, it soon became known as 'Po's Screen' as, if I wasn't working, at uni, hiding out at 'Mike's' house or hiding out at Cafe Sol, then I would be in the back row of that screen, typing away on my laptop as quietly as possible. It was the 'Indie Film' screen, thus wasn't the most popular of screens.
> 
> I did choke myself almost as frequently as Misha did when I was chained to the bar (and the reason behind that was so that no customer got above their status and tried to molest us. We had a Dom, to touch us, they would need his permission), and I did take out a couple of fellow barstaff as well.
> 
> Eggs do explode and smell rank when left in a hot pan for over seven hours.
> 
> Same goes for condensed milk. That happened. We were somewhat scarred for life and neither one of us returned to that house for a good two weeks at least. We were also kinda thankful neither of us were in the kitchen at the time... that could have been messy.
> 
> Sploshing rooms are the work of Gods. Possibly Loki.
> 
> My friend, Helen, did indeed throw a coffee in the face of a customer, however it was her exes face and the coffee wasn't totally scolding... she'd added cold milk first.
> 
> Dreaded Fairies? Is awesome. Me and Helen also spent a lot of our time there, though my manager didn't own it, nor was it affiliated with where I worked. We did know the manager of the place though.
> 
> I have one of those silver collars. Very comfortable. Admittedly, *cough*, mine wasn't to be worn when I was behind the bar. It was for 'Business Nights' which I realise now makes me sound like a high class whore. Nope. Business Nights were done every other month or so, where other bar/club owners came and the place was shut to everyone else. It was kinda like a cocktail night, and I worked as a waitress type thing. So... yeah. Thats when I got to wear the fancy collar. *shrug*
> 
> Yeah... always make sure the person you get to pay the bills... actually pays the damn bills.
> 
> The text in the interlude was taken from a site called wrongnumber.com and is very amusing to browse through.
> 
> Jim the Landlord is not Jim Beaver, by the way. My landlord was called Jim and I didn't actually make the connection until I'd finished this. Heh. So yeah, I didn't think of Jim Beaver when I wrote him. Also? My landlord only gave me three days to move out and I hadn't finalised any plans for somewhere else to move. Thankfully for me, my new landlord was both horrified at what he heard and very understanding that I needed to move as soon as possible. I was also lucky that the person who's room I was taking, had already moved out. Moving in to the other house made me very late for work and then my manager offered me time to compose myself when I turned up shaking, completely pale and missing half my uniform. Apparently, my landlord meant he wanted me out by 9am, Saturday morning. I hadn't found out it was okay to move into my new accomodation until the day before. Jim was gracious enough to allow me until 11am to get everything shifted over. *snort* Worst day of my life. 11am was also the time my shift began. So yeah, Jared had it a little easier than I did. *grin*
> 
> I honestly have no idea how either myself or Helen got a degree and graduated, but we did. With only minor PTSD (post it notes still make me shudder a little)... Cheers for reading and I hope you took great pleasure in mine, Helen's, Jared's and Misha's misery! Thank you!
> 
> Thanks go to:
> 
> siiy for the incredible art and the amusingly random conversations said art brought about during email conversations.
> 
> Helen, who was highly amused when I told her what I planned to do and sent me copies of all the notes she had kept.
> 
> wolfish_willow for being an amazingly patient beta and going through my admittedly shoddy grammar. She's awesome. Lol!
> 
> And cashay, shirokuri and the_death_queen for cheering me on whenever I felt like I was just going to shoot myself or kinda forgot where I was going. *snicker*


End file.
